10th edition CIFF – 10-14 April 2024

Pop Aye (2017 Feature Film)

Kirsten Tan | Singapore | 2017 | 102 min | Thai | e.s.

A disillusioned architect rediscovers Pop Aye, the elephant from his childhood, in the streets of Bangkok. Together they set off on a journey to the village where they grew up. Occasionally funny, occasionally moving road movie about two uprooted souls who meet the most colorful figures on their journey home.

Thana has come to a standstill in life. His work as an architect in Bangkok is no longer appreciated and his wife doesn’t seem to want him around either. Where does a middle-aged man really belong? Then the disillusioned Thana comes across the elephant he grew up with as a boy in the countryside of Thailand. He buys the animal to take it with him on a road trip, back to their shared past.

Thana and the elephant, Pop Aye, are characters you want to take into your heart. Thana approaches others with a warm humanity and his mythical-looking companion is more than just a symbolic figure: the animal has a history and character of its own. These appealing misfits trample through occasionally absurdist or tragicomic scenes that they share with a gentle vagabond who can predict the future, two bureaucratically-inclined police officers and a lonely ladyboy with karaoke aspirations.

Place: CINEMA 3

Date: 6 April 2017

Time: 21:30

Duration: 1:20

Place: CINEMA 4

Date: 8 April 2017

Time: 16:45

Duration: 1:17

Year in
Festival

2017

Director

Kirsten Tan

Camera

Chananun Chotrungroj

Cast

Bong
Penpak Sirikul
Thaneth Warakulnukroh
Chaiwat Khumdee
Yukontorn Sukkijja
Narong Pongpab

Country

Singapore

Editor

Lee Chatametikool

Language

Thai

Length

102 min

Producer

Weijie Lai / E&W; Films
Anthony Chen / Giraffe Pictures Pte Ltd

Production Company

E&W; Films
Giraffe Pictures Pte Ltd

Sales

Cercamon

Scenario

Kirsten Tan

Year of Production

2017

Website

Kirsten TAN (1981, Singapore) lived in Thailand and South Korea before moving to Brooklyn, New York to finish her education in film production at the Tisch School of the Arts. Tan’s short films were screened at film festivals worldwide and received various international awards. Pop Aye (2017) is her feature film debut and winner of the VPRO Big Screen Award 2017 at IFFR.

 

Filmography

(selection) 10 Minutes Later (2006, short), Fonzi (2007, short), Come (2007, short), Sink (2009, short), Cold Noodles (2009, short), Thin Air (2011, short), Dahdi/Granny (2014, short), Pop Aye (2017)