Festival :

Cinemart, Rotterdam International Film Festival 2011
The Ties That Bind, Udine Italy and Busan Korea
Script Development, Asian Cinema Fund, Busan 2011

Synopsis

At Korat, Northeast Thailand, Suriya is an ingenious boxer whose origin is shrouded in mystery. He’s scrawny and sickly-looking, but as soon as he steps into the ring he becomes a fast and furious killer famed for his “Double-Kick-Double-Elbow” move and not a single opponent has ever lasted beyond the third round. He lives on booze, and he calls cheap whorehouses his home. After each win, he’ll collect his prize money and quietly leave, without basking in any glory. Soon his reckless lifestyle inflicts him with a sexual disease. Fighting now for his life, he still goes into the ring, but is a shadow of his former self, with one eye nearly blind from syphilis. After his last fight, which he quits after the fourth round, thereby maintaining his reputation of never being knocked out, he drowns himself in drink for the remainder of his life. He may have lost his will to live, his money, and his sanity, but never surrendered the mystery of his existence.

Director Bio

Wisit Sasanatieng began his film career by writing [Dang Bireley’s and the Young Gangsters] in 1997 and [Nang Nak] in 1999, a year he also marked his directorial debut with [Tears of the Black Tiger]. The film was awarded Dragons & Tigers award for Young Cinema at the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2000. It was also an official selection at Cannes 2001 in the category of Un Certain Regard. His second film, [Citizen Dog] was the official selection at the 58th Locarno International Film Festival and also won awards at the 10th Fantasia: North America's Premier Genre Film Festival at Montreal, Canada. [Citizen Dog] was included in the top ten best movies in the world for 2005 as voted by Time Magazine.