ARTE France Cinéma made their usual fall announcement of projects they’ll be backing and among the quartet of projects that includes Emmanuel Mouret (Le Cabinet du Docteur Albertini), Ana Elena Tejera’s sophomore feature Corte Culebra, and The Settlers‘ Felipe Gálvez (Impunity), we also have a major update on the next Apichatpong Weerasethakul feature. Formerly going by the working title was The Fountains of Paradise, Jengira’s Magnificent Dream will indeed be filmed in Sri Lanka and his Memoria muse Tilda Swinton is confirmed but so are the likes of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives alumni Jenjira Pongpas and Sakda Kaewbuadee, along with actor-filmmaker Connor Jessup who once went into the jungle to direct a persanal short film profile on Thai Joe with ‘A.W. A Portrait of Apichatpong Weerasethakul.’ Production is set for February and the line-up of international production companies on this venture include Anna Sanders Films (France), Burning (Colombia), Kick the Machine (Thailand), Baldr Film (The Netherlands), Piano Producciones (Mexico), and Meta Films (Canada). Here is the synopsis:
Jenjira, a Thai widow, travels to Sigiriya to scatter her husband’s ashes. As blurred visions distort her perception of time and space, she finds herself drawn into a journey through different eras. Through this journey, guided by science and empathy, Jenjira becomes a living portal connecting past, future, and spirit. The film explores a retro aesthetic, inspired by 1970s science fiction films, and is distinguished by a world where the only visible temporal difference is the absence of cell phones.
