9 Temples to Heaven
9 วัด สู่สวรรค์
An extended family go on a religious pilgrimage and navigate their interpersonal dramas along the way in this deeply personal reflection on modern Thailand.
When Sakol hears an unsettling, weirdly specific prophecy about his ageing mother’s imminent death, he springs into action. Knowing that nine is a fortuitous number in Thai culture, he bundles the same amount of family members into a mini-van to visit nine temples in one day. It’s an ambitious attempt to cultivate enough karma for “Grandma” to find a peaceful afterlife, but things don’t go as planned. As three generations of family members squabble over religion and personal responsibility, and they encounter a mix of genuinely kind and commercially opportunistic monks, Sakol’s grand plan starts to feel like a futile undertaking. As the day comes to an end, will his faith finally be rewarded?
Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s debut, the documentary Railway Sleepers (MIFF 2017), bunked down with passengers taking long-distance train rides across Thailand. His second feature – and first venture into fiction – is a beautifully observed portrait of the relationship between religious tradition and capitalist society, drawing from personal experiences of his own family pilgrimages to Buddhist temples. Produced by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, on whose own films Sompot regularly worked as an assistant, and premiering at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, 9 Temples to Heaven is a sensitive, involving saga.
“A drama of forgiveness and reckoning with personal faith [that is] also deeply personal … serves as both delicate metaphor for political, generational and social diversity in modern Thailand, and an intensely recognisable portrait of simmering intra-family tensions and resentments.” – Screen Daily
Writer/director Sompot Chidgasornpongse and producer Kissada Kamyoung are guests of the festival and will be in attendance at the Wednesday 19 August session of the film.
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