Controversial New Thai Monk Movie Wins 3 Awards At Film Festival In USA

[webfact]

Controversial new Thai monk movie wins 3 awards at film festival in USA!

WASHINGTON DC: -- A murder mystery set in a Bangkok temple has won three awards for its filmmakers at an international film festival in the United States earlier this month.

"Satit-suek-sop" aka "Mindfulness and Murder" is based on a book by Bangkok based writer Nick Wilgus, who puts a new spin on the clerical detective genre with his "Father Ananda mystery" novel series. Starring Vithaya Pansringarm in his first lead role, the Thai language film also features veteran Thai actor Jaran "See Tao" Petcharoen, Prinya "Way" Intachai (Thaitainium), Charina "Kaew" Sirisinha (ZaZa), Natalie Glebova (Miss Universe 2005) and Abhijati "Muek" Jusakul (4 Oct 1955 - 6 Sep 2010) in his last Thai film role.

Selected to show as a special preview for the Closing Film at ThrillSpy, a festival dedicated to the thriller/spy genre, "Mindfulness and Murder" won a Best ACTOR award for lead actor Vithaya Pansringarm, and Best DIRECTOR for Tom Waller.

Born in Bangkok to a Thai Buddhst mother and Irish Catholic father, producer/director Tom had a unique dual perspectve on the story: "When I received the script from Nick I was immediately excited about making a film version of this gripping story - afterall, how often do you see a film about a monk detective!"

"Pu" Vithaya, who had worked with Tom before playing King Saryu in the Hollywood production of "The Prince and Me: The Elephant Adventure", was at first reluctant to take on the lead role after hearing about the story, which deals with organized crime in the monastery, fake monks, corrupt cops, drug-dealing and other taboos. But after reading the script, Pu was immediately excited about taking on the challenging role of Father Ananda, a former homicide detective: "I saw this project as an opportunity to send a message and make people realize how Buddhism in Thailand is being abused. By solving the crimes and finding the murderer, Father Ananda is protecting the Buddhist Sangha".

Shot in 2.35:1 cinemascope, the film also won Best CINEMATOGRAPHY for Bangkok based Australian DP Wade Muller, who went on to work with "Ong Bak" Thai director Prachya Pinkaew on his English language debut "Elephant White" earlier this year.

Later this month, the film will be shown at the 1st Cambodian International Film Festival in Phnom Penh. Both Tom and Pu hope that Thai audiences will get to see the film soon: "Nick wrote a trilogy of novels, so we hope that if audiences like the first film, Father Ananda will also return for a sequel!".

NOTES: De Warrenne Pictures Co. Ltd. is an independent motion picture film production company based in Bangkok, Thailand. The book "Mindfulness and Murder" is published by Silkworm Books. For a full list of winners see ThrillSpy. More info at the official website www.mindfulnessandmurder.com.

For photos or more information contact: info [at] mindfulnessandmurder.com

Tel: 02 286 5418-9

Fax: 02 679 9414

Tom Waller: +66 89 122 2292 (tom [at] dewarrenne.com)

Vithaya Pansringarm: +66 81 553 0656

-- 2010-10-14

[camerata]

I don't recall there being any females in this monastic mystery, but anyway here's Kaew on the right...

and Natalie...

[sabaijai]

I saw the rough cut. The basic dark humour of the book is maintained, while the story has been compressed and slightly altered. Nice film, with several good performances, including Way Prinya as a monk who may or may not be a bad egg. Natalie's appearance is very brief (she plays herself), Kaew's is fairly limited, too. I may be biased, as I advised on the script