Across the River
One crossed the river, and they hum the river.
Synopsis: After seeing many people who had crossed the river and being one of them, the film shows the exact moment of one's arrival along with the humming voices of others.
-
OrganicDirector
-
OrganicWriter
-
The Buffalo StudioProducer
-
PansyKey Cast
-
CantaloupeAssistant Director
-
CantaloupeEditor
-
Karl TAudio
-
Project Type:Short
-
Genres:Drama
-
Runtime:3 minutes 35 seconds
-
Completion Date:January 4, 2025
-
Production Budget:550 THB
-
Country of Origin:Myanmar, Thailand
-
Country of Filming:Thailand
-
Shooting Format:Digital, 2K, H.264, HEVC
-
Aspect Ratio:16:9
-
Film Color:Color
-
First-time Filmmaker:Yes
-
Student Project:No
Hi! I am Organic, and the seniors from my very first scriptwriting workshop gave me that nickname, and I really liked that name. I was from Myanmar, a chaotic country, and I am just one of the young guys who seek the beauty in chaos. Before I sensed the war in my experiences, my poems only carried the masked beautiful words. As I became an exile from my country, I got those experiences and feelings an illegal immigrant has. Being an exile and illegal immigrant called out a lot of limitations. But I have my freedom of expression. As my language of expression, I chose films. I wanted to create. Without schools and verification of a citizen, I got people to study with. Exile filmmakers, workshops, seniors, and self-study are mentors for my filmmaking. But studying is different from shooting, and it is crazy to make first films with unnecessary limitations. Luckily! After two years of training, I meet with some guys who can be the word WE. With the start of the Buffalo studio, our filmmaking journey began. After 23 years of living, I got the story of two films we created, and I like those kinds of stories in my life experiences.
Saying about the river, the Thaung Yin River is not that long. It is flowing reversely, and it will take only 2 minutes to cross. It is like a natural line in the Myanmar-Thai border. Many people from Myanmar had crossed that river and are still crossing in many ways to avoid war, fear, and violence. We learned from people and experiences that the events and scenes when crossing will become fun and light after some time, but the chaotic thoughts and feelings are not. Whenever the flashbacks come, these feelings will cry in the head.
As we got a trigger back from seeing footage of someone crossing, we decided to express those feelings through film. That's how the process of Across the River started. After making interviews with various illegal immigrants from Mae Sot, we tried to make the visual fiction story with voices of people. Luckily, our entire environment itself already got natural settings and stories for the film. After 2 days of interviewing, 1 day of shooting, and 3 days of video and audio editing, we got our first draft, and after 8 days, we got our final version. And we hope this film can catch a glance of what those people are feeling and empathize with them, although we can't manage to express everything they are feeling.