Klai (Distinction)

KLAI (DISTINCTION)/

(2011)

   

Medium: Single Chanel Video
Duration: 23 minutes

Description:

“Klai”, meaning “similar” in Thai, focuses on the real-life relationship between a live-in indigenous maid and her acting coach employer. On separate shooting days, each of them is interviewed as both roles, as themselves and as the other. They are asked to perform and answer the questions under the gaze of the camera while they do not have both script and any specific direction; only the roles are assigned. “Klai” scrutinises the paradoxes that lie within both presentation and representation, especially when the power relations underpinned manifest themselves into the fore. 

Awards:
– Special Mention – R.D Pestanji Competition, the 15th Thai Short Film and Video Festival, Bangkok, Thailand
-Vichitmatra Matra Award (for distinctive achievement in filmmaking according to jury’s judgement), The 15th Thai Short Film and Video Festival, Bangkok, Thailand
– Video Art/Experimental Film Grant, Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, Ministry of Culture, Thailand

Screenings:
– The 12th Seoul International New Media Festival, Seoul, South Korea
– “Chapter 3, State of Being”(in conjunction with 2014 Art Basel Hong Kong), Opalnest, XXX Gallery, Hong Kong
– SEA ArtsShorts, SEA ArtsFest, London, UK
– The 15th Thai Short Film and Video Festival, BMA Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok, Thailand
– “Can You Hear Me?”, Numthong Gallery, Bangkok, Thailand
– “Can You Hear Me?”, Objectifs Centre of Photography and Film, Singapore
– “This Moment: Thailand”, Asia Culture Center, Gwangju, South Korea
– The 9th World Film of Bangkok, Bangkok, Thailand
– The 4th Fly Beyond the Barbwire Fence Festival, CMU Art Museum, Chiang Mai, Thailand
– “Thailand Present: Artist in Focus: Tulapop Saenjaroen”, Club eX, Korean National Film Archive, South Korea

-YMD Art Space, KhonKaen, Thailand

– Tulapop Saenjaroen: A (Digressive) Focus Program, e-flux Screening Room, NYC, USA