“The Last Breath of Sam Yan” Film Screening and Discussion with Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal and Settanant Thanakitkoses (Oct. 23, 2024)
The Boston University Initiative on Cities, Center for the Study of Asia, and Department of Anthropology
are pleased to invite you to
The Last Breath of Sam Yan
Film Screening and Discussion
with Netiwit Chotiphatphaisal and Settanant Thanakitkoses
Wednesday, October 23, 2024 from 4:00- 6:00 pm at 75 Bay State Road, Boston MA
Please register here.
About this film (from https://filmfreeway.com/TheLastBreathofSamYan)
Under the current of gentrification and the pressure from the university, an old Mazu shrine, the last member of the community, stands unwavering in the middle of the construction site, like candle light burning against a tempest. Only the caretaker of the shrine and a group of students stand in a way of this so-called “development”, in hope that the fragrance of incense and candle light will not fade from this Mazu shrine.
Prempapat Plittapolkranpim is a film director and social entrepreneur who was born in Bangkok in 1994. He began his career in filmmaking as a director in 2006, where he received a special jury prize from Movie Mania Festival, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand. In 2011, he was one of the founders of Young Filmmakers of Thailand (Public Benefit Organization), which started holding short film festivals for youths around Thailand and engaging with social issues. His film earned him the 1st prize in the Two Nations-One Mind Festival, in Busan, South Korea in 2014. He was a director of a research program for young people’s quality of life and also contributed to youth mental health issues. His project received the Best Social Change Maker Award of Thailand Influencer Awards in 2021. In 2022, he launched his first featured documentary film, which has been chosen to screen at Lift-Off Filmmaker Sessions by Lift-Off Global Network, England, and Festival del Cinema di Cefalù, Italy as well as Challenge for the World film festival, Spain. Presently, he is a special lecturer in the Technology Program (International Program). He owns Young Film TH Production and Fongmek Company Limited based in Bangkok.
The film captures and conveys the struggle to preserve the Thapthim Shrine which is being demolished by the number 1 university in Thailand. Court administrators are under intense pressure from the legal process. The film presents the concept of gentrification which is becoming a concept in urban development in many places around the world until it becomes unequal.