Singapore International Film Festival 2018
Manta Ray
Language
Thai - subtitles to be advised
Director
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Cast
Wanlop Rungkumjad, Rasmee Wayrana, Aphisit Hama
Synopsis
In a coastal village near the Thai-Myanmar border, a lonely fisherman nurses and befriends a wounded, mute Rohingya man, whom he affectionately names Thongchai. When the fisherman disappears at sea, the identities of the two men start to converge in disquieting and delicate ways.
Director Phuttiphong Aroonpheng first conceived of Manta Ray as a participant at Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Film Academy in 2009, and developed it over the course of eight years. The film is a reaction against the media’s negative portrayal of the Rohingya people, and the bigotry directed towards them by the general populace. It screened at the 2018 Venice International Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Film in the Horizons section.