By Patrick Brzeski. Asia Bureau Chief. The noted Thai auteur was in Locarno to head the international jury, which earned praise for some of its out-of-the-box prize selections. Its story is said to take place in a small town on the Mekong River in northern Thailand, where 27 soldiers come down with a strange sleeping sickness.
Frequent Apichatpong collaborator Jenjira Widner will reprise her role β from Uncle Boonmee and Syndromes and Century β as a nurse tasked with caring for the soldiers. Strange dreams, phantoms, a mysterious river creature and tangled romances all play a part in the evocative narrative, according to early promotional materials.
Apichatpong tells THR he is completing the script and expects to begin shooting by year-end. And it also depends on the project β the next film after this one is more ambitious in terms of financing. Following Cemetery , Apichatpong revealed he plans to direct his first film outside of Thailand, an as yet untitled meditation on the landscape of Bangladesh. He said the idea for the new film first came to him when he recently visited a cemetery for past kings in Austria. Since Thailand is also a monarchy, you can only imagine the future.
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