Best International Film: India, Thailand, Cambodia

by Cláudio Alves

At The Film Experience, we've always loved following and celebrating the Best International Film Oscar race. This season's no different, so you can expect many reviews in the next week as one counts down to the Academy's much-anticipated shortlists, when the competition will be severely cut down from its original 85 contenders. Voting for the shortlists opens on December 9th and closes on the 13th, with results announced on the 17th. Until then, let's dive deep into the wonders of world cinema, starting with a trip to the South of Asia.

Our journey commences with India's Lost Ladies, selected amid controversy because of All We Imagine As Light's politicized snubbing. Then, Thailand's How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, which has become an unlikely blockbuster and worldwide crowd pleaser. And finally, Cambodia's Meeting with Pol Pot, where iconoclast filmmaker Rithy Panh tries his hand at some period drama conventions…

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Review: Cambodia's Oscar Submission "White Building"

by Nathaniel R

I was hoping to catch at least one feature in Venice that would be selected by its home country as an Academy Award submission and I did! Kavich Neang's debut feature (after several shorts) White Building will represent Cambodia for the next Oscar race. I'm already hoping it makes the finals both because the Academy is far too stingy with Asian cinema and because it's very good.

White Building impresses immediately with an aerial shot over a tenement building that looked like a cross between a Rauschenberg and a Pollock, a messy collage of patchwork color and intricate city grime and electrical wiring of the world we’re about to descend into. The building is not white given years of decay but surely once was. We initially have fun with a trio of young men including Samnang (Piseth Chhun) as they share a motorbike around the city, trying to pick up girls...

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