The 69th Flaherty Film Seminar

To Commune
June 27–July 2
Thai Film Archive
Salaya, Thailand

Programmed by
May Adadol Ingawanij
& Julian Ross

Programmers
May Adadol Ingawanij
เม อาดาดล อิงคะวณิช
& Julian Ross

We’re interested in the potential of groups gathering around a screen over a period of time. We approach documentary filmmaking as that which brings together bodies, minds and spirits across different spaces, worlds and temporalities.Beyond self-organizing and community-building, to commune is to communicate with mystical, animistic, and ritualistic capacities. Beyond affirming commonality, to commune is to connect with others and to be in touch with the unknowable. We turn to the fundamental value of cinema as an encounter with beings and worlds very different from our own.
Our programme seeks to explore how contemporary filmmakers and moving image artists are expanding the imaginative possibilities of communing through documentary forms. We want to highlight how filmmakers and artists, especially those connected to the Global South, are inheriting surprising legacies of historical efforts to commune. We’re intrigued by artistic explorations of communal capacities in spaces and situations such as the classroom, the ritual, the carnival, the film set, the potent site, the gathering and the protest.
Within the immediate context of the Flaherty Seminar, we’re interested in exploring the latent communal capacities of its format, apparatus, and institutional infrastructure. Our curatorial approach seeks to explore the tensions and the sparks of efforts to commune. Not to gather to recognise an identity or a common concern, but to make relations on grounds of radical differentiation.
May Adadol Ingawanij & Julian Ross, Programmers

Programs

Revisit the full program on the 2024 Seminar Programs page.

ARTISTS

Read about the Artists on the 2024 Seminar Artists page.

Left to Right: Korakrit Arunanondchai, Paijong Laisakul, Tzu Nyen Ho, Riar Rizaldi, Sriwhana Spong, Chikako Yamashiro, Saeed Taji Farouky. Not pictured: Araya Rasdjamreansook and Jumana Manna.
Photo by Vinai Dithajohn, courtesy of The Flaherty

Meet our 2024 Fellows

Meet the 2024 In-Person and Online Fellows.

About The Fellowship

Learn more about the 2024 Seminar Fellowship process.

2024 Flaherty Fellows, Photo by Vinai Dithajohn, courtesy of The Flaherty

Presented in partnership
with UnionDocs

The 2024 Online Experience ran from June 27 through July 21st and took place concurrently with the in-person Seminar in Thailand, with two live online programs on June 27 and 30.

Learn about our International Gatherings

Groups gathered in dozens of locations worldwide.

Buenos Aires - Argentina Flaherty Pod 1.jpg

Buenos Aires - Argentina Flaherty Pod 2.jpg

Lima Peru - Flaherty Pod Day02 Discussion.jpeg

About the Thai Film Archive

The Thai Film Archive is a state agency tasked with collecting, preserving, and providing access to the country’s audio-visual and film-related materials. The Archive functions as a museum, library, and cinematheque.

With the support of the Ministry of Education, the National Film Archive was founded in 1984. In 1987, it opened to researchers and the general public and began programming public screenings, exhibitions, and lectures. The Archive moved to Salaya, a suburb on the outskirts of Bangkok, in 1997 and was re-assigned status as the Film Archive, a public organization, in 1999.