With:  Poonpan Rangkhavorn (Santi), Rayvadi Sriwilai (Vina)

Director/Screenplay: Marut [Thavi Na Bangchang]
Producers: Robert G. North, Rak Panyarachun
Production co: Hanuman Productions, Far East Film
Screenplay: Robert G. North, Thavi Na Bangchang, Vijit Kunavudhi
Photography: R.D. Pestonji
Music: Nath Thavorabutr

---

REVIEWS
​
Long believed lost, Santi-Vina was the first Thai film shot on 35mm and in colour.  The camera negative was recently discovered at the BFI National Archive and was used by L’Immagine Ritrovata to produce this stunning restoration.

“Had Douglas Sirk made a Thai Buddhist melodrama, it might have looked something like this. The relationship between blind boy Santi and his neighbour Vina is charted as their friendship turns to romance. But the path of true love is never easy: Santi is sent away to live with a monk and then he has to contend with bully/love rival Grai.  Some of the film’s greatest pleasures lie in the images conjured by cinematographer R D Pestonji: a distant Buddhist stupa on a mountainside at sunset; saffron-robed monks walking along a barren village path; the brilliant colours of the magical Loi Krathong ceremony.”

— Robin Baker, London Film Festival 2016 (In Thai with English subtitles)


Restored in 2016 by the Film Archive (Public Organization), Thailand.  Restoration work was carried out at Cineteca di Bologna/L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory.

---

---

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS
​
Wellington
Monday, 10 September, 6:15pm*

Auckland
Monday, 17 September, 6:30pm*

Whanganui
Monday, 24 September, 7:00pm

Canterbury
Monday, 1 October, 7:30pm

Hamilton
​ Monday, 8 October, 8:00pm

*Denotes DCP screening

---

See more SE ASIAN CLASSICS >>

---