Cemetery of Splendor (2015)

In January and February, the new Uitkijk series focuses on Invisible Forces. In this series, the films’ characters confront intangible, all-encompassing forces that each control their lives in their own way. The titles veer between horror, magical realism, and existential nightmares, showing how people struggle, falter, and sometimes break under the weight of the unknown.

In CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR, Jenjira, a nurse, observes a group of Thai soldiers suffering from a mysterious sleeping sickness. The lonely Jenjira takes care of Itt, a soldier without a family, and tries to discover the origins of the dreamlike illness. In the hospital, built on a burial ground for kings, magical apparitions and poetic hallucinations intertwine. Director Weerasethakul paints an enchanted Thailand where past and present, the banal and the spiritual, pop culture and Buddhism are inextricably linked. CEMETERY OF SPLENDOUR reveals how much of Thailand’s past is visible in the present, and how much remains invisible if we are not willing to look…

The people at De Uitkijk have kindly offered a limited amount of free tickets for Subbacultcha members. Please make a reservation by sending an email to mailinglist@subbacultcha.nl with ‘Cemetery of Splendor (2015)’ in the subject line + your name in the email.