BLISSFULLY YOURS (SUD SENAEHA) International Feature Competition

What at first seems to be a wry, neo-realist film about Thailand’s disenfranchised enters the realm of the poetic when its characters- an illegal Burmese immigrant and the two Thai women who care for him-escape into the lush Thai countryside for an afternoon of picnics and lovemaking. But, despite their pastoral surroundings, an inescapable air of sadness hangs over these three, turning this sun-dappled interlude into a bittersweet affair.

Winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the occasionally enigmatic, always riveting BLISSFULLY YOURS heralds a brave new voice in world cinema. A self-described experimental filmmaker, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul quietly tests the limits of feature filmmaking, combining beautiful photography, his actors’ minimalist styles and a penchant for exploring unspoken emotions. The result is a delicately paced, deeply felt film exploring the connections, both emotional and physical, that bind three people together one languid summer afternoon.