THE ANTHEM

In Thailand, a Royal Anthem honouring the King is played before all film screenings and is therefore an integral part of the experience of going to the cinema. With characteristic joy and narrative experimentation, Weerasethakul fashions his own pre-film anthem: a five-minute feel-good, ritualistic blessing meant to ensure the main attraction's success. Lighthearted yet precisely constructed, The Anthem is a delightfully offbeat celebration of cinema for its collective experience as much as its temporal movement in space. (Andréa Picard)

This film is screened together with The Cats of Mirikitani.