Wildtype, the annual season of short films programmed by Chayanin Tiangpitayagorn, Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, and Sasawat Boonsri, returns for its seventeenth year. After being held largely online in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event has been expanding during the past few years, with screenings around the country in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
2026 is no exception, with screenings at a dozen locations around Thailand this month. More than fifty films will be shown, though the highlight is the Politix strand, which includes Long Live the Sin, Letter from Congo (จดหมายจากคองโก), A Pigeon’s Journey on the Birth of a Nation (ย้ายรัง), Self-Portrait (อัตภาพ), 8 (๘), and Soundtrack to a Coup d’État 2.
Politix screenings:
2026 is no exception, with screenings at a dozen locations around Thailand this month. More than fifty films will be shown, though the highlight is the Politix strand, which includes Long Live the Sin, Letter from Congo (จดหมายจากคองโก), A Pigeon’s Journey on the Birth of a Nation (ย้ายรัง), Self-Portrait (อัตภาพ), 8 (๘), and Soundtrack to a Coup d’État 2.
Politix screenings:
- 4th October at Buffalo Bridge in Bangkok
- 4th October at PYE Space in Phayao
- 4th October at Fair Boy in Lopburi
- 4th October at Loftster in Korat
- 10th October at Noir Row Art Space in Udon Thani
- 11th October at Bliss Project in Chanthaburi
- 18th October at Lorem Ipsum in Hat Yai
- 18th October at Us in Phatthalung
- 23rd October in Ranong
- 23rd October at 23 December (!) in Phitsanulok
Long Live the Sin
Beam Wong’s music video Long Live the Sin, a short burst of rage, features imagery associated with the three-finger protest movement. It was shown earlier this year at the Goethe-Institut.
8
Pattanapong Khongsak’s short film 8 combines historical material with modern technology, using generative AI to visualise the past. This hybrid documentary has no narration, so key events are explained using written captions.
Photos of major political milestones — 6th October 1976, the yellow-shirt and red-shirt protests, the ‘Shutdown Bangkok’ campaign, and the 2006 and 2014 coup announcements — are solarised and rendered as 3D images. Pattanapong also uses bright red and blue tinting, as he did in Bad Taste (โอรส).
The AI manipulation makes the familiar images even more impactful, and dramatic reconstructions help to clarify the details. One sequence strays into deepfake territory: a newsreel-style scene of Democracy Monument engulfed by a tsunami, like a silent disaster movie.
The main focus is on the unexplained death or assassination of Rama VIII, the subsequent smear campaign against Pridi Banomyong, and the wrongful conviction of three men for conspiracy to murder. A caption tells us that the men were executed “8 years, 8 months, 8 days since the King’s death” — hence the 8 (๘) in the film’s title. (Its subtitle, The Silence of the Goats, is a pun on The Silence of the Lambs.)
Photos of major political milestones — 6th October 1976, the yellow-shirt and red-shirt protests, the ‘Shutdown Bangkok’ campaign, and the 2006 and 2014 coup announcements — are solarised and rendered as 3D images. Pattanapong also uses bright red and blue tinting, as he did in Bad Taste (โอรส).
The AI manipulation makes the familiar images even more impactful, and dramatic reconstructions help to clarify the details. One sequence strays into deepfake territory: a newsreel-style scene of Democracy Monument engulfed by a tsunami, like a silent disaster movie.
The main focus is on the unexplained death or assassination of Rama VIII, the subsequent smear campaign against Pridi Banomyong, and the wrongful conviction of three men for conspiracy to murder. A caption tells us that the men were executed “8 years, 8 months, 8 days since the King’s death” — hence the 8 (๘) in the film’s title. (Its subtitle, The Silence of the Goats, is a pun on The Silence of the Lambs.)
Soundtrack to a Coup d’État 2
The director of Soundtrack to a Coup d’État 2 is anonymous, and I’m sworn to secrecy. The film is credited to a pseudonym, Johan Liebert. (It’s an unofficial sequel to the 2024 Cold War documentary of the same title.)
This satirical (and hilarious) film features a collage of clips from TV news reports about the 2006 coup, set to a jazz soundtrack. (The film links the musician to the events it depicts.) It also highlights the kerfuffle in 2008 when Thaksin Shinawatra accused an unnamed octogenarian of being behind the coup, and finally revealed that he was referring to Prem Tinsulanonda.
This satirical (and hilarious) film features a collage of clips from TV news reports about the 2006 coup, set to a jazz soundtrack. (The film links the musician to the events it depicts.) It also highlights the kerfuffle in 2008 when Thaksin Shinawatra accused an unnamed octogenarian of being behind the coup, and finally revealed that he was referring to Prem Tinsulanonda.
Letter from Congo
In Buariyate Eamkamol’s Letter from Congo, a narrator reads a letter from a woman in colonial-era Belgium describing a cruel monarch. The film also features solarised footage of red-shirt protesters travelling from Chiang Mai to Bangkok.
The final image is a statue of King Kawila, a former ruler of Chiang Mai, and the effect is similar to the ending of the short film Re-presentation (ผีมะขาม ไพร่ฟ้า ประชาธิปไตย ในคืนที่ลมพัดหวน) by Chai Chaiyachit and Chisanucha Kongwailap. Letter from Congo was previously shown at The New Narrative: Moving Image Showcase, from 1st to 29th July, at TCDC Commons in Srinakarin.
The final image is a statue of King Kawila, a former ruler of Chiang Mai, and the effect is similar to the ending of the short film Re-presentation (ผีมะขาม ไพร่ฟ้า ประชาธิปไตย ในคืนที่ลมพัดหวน) by Chai Chaiyachit and Chisanucha Kongwailap. Letter from Congo was previously shown at The New Narrative: Moving Image Showcase, from 1st to 29th July, at TCDC Commons in Srinakarin.
A Pigeon’s Journey on the Birth of a Nation
A Pigeon’s Journey on the Birth of a Nation is part of Weerapat Sakolvaree’s Oblivion (เลือน) series, the first of which was The Original Texts (บทประพันธ์ดั้งเดิม). A voiceover narrates the circumstances of three key milestones in Thai political history — the 1932 revolution, 14th October 1973, and 6th October 1976 — though they are told as a fable involving wild animals.
A pigeon flies between various Bangkok buildings, as if witnessing the historic events described in the narration. The effect is similar to Panya Zhu’s short film White Bird (นกตัวนั้นยังสบายดีไหม), in which an origami bird is also seen at historically significant locations around Bangkok.
When the pigeon lands on Democracy Monument, the voiceover describes “one October morning” (14th October 1973) when “Mad Dogs” attacked thousands of student protesters. The pigeon then flies to Thammasat University, where “the Wild Tigers came out to hunt.”
A Pigeon’s Journey on the Birth of a Nation was previously shown at The Wayward Travelers, a Weerapat retrospective. It was also shown at the group exhibition Spacing the Inherent (การเว้นระยะห่างโดยธรรมชาติ) from 6th to 29th May at Art4C in Bangkok.
A pigeon flies between various Bangkok buildings, as if witnessing the historic events described in the narration. The effect is similar to Panya Zhu’s short film White Bird (นกตัวนั้นยังสบายดีไหม), in which an origami bird is also seen at historically significant locations around Bangkok.
When the pigeon lands on Democracy Monument, the voiceover describes “one October morning” (14th October 1973) when “Mad Dogs” attacked thousands of student protesters. The pigeon then flies to Thammasat University, where “the Wild Tigers came out to hunt.”
A Pigeon’s Journey on the Birth of a Nation was previously shown at The Wayward Travelers, a Weerapat retrospective. It was also shown at the group exhibition Spacing the Inherent (การเว้นระยะห่างโดยธรรมชาติ) from 6th to 29th May at Art4C in Bangkok.
Self-Portrait
For the black-and-white Self-Portrait, Nawapol Peachpolshep scanned his body with a photocopier, posing with a bullet in his mouth, to express his anger at the suppression of student demonstrators in 2020 and 2021. His film includes footage of riot police with shields, water cannon being fired, and protesters washing tear gas out of their eyes.
