In April the Following Year, There Was a Fire

A poetic title, almost a film description, that demands some close reading. Just like the film, which – as a visual poem – doesn’t immediately divulge its meaning. A young filmmaker looks back at his childhood in the sometimes boring, sometimes beautiful countryside.

Nuhm is a foreman in the building industry in Bangkok who has to look for other work. On the eve of the Thai New Year, he returns to his birthplace in the north-east of Thailand (where director Wichanon Somumjarn also grew up). After the wedding of a school friend, Nuhm goes to see his father, but their reunion is difficult. Meeting a young woman he was once in love with brings out other feelings. They talk about Albert Camus’ rules for a happy life and Nuhm admits that he would most love to make films. Meanwhile, on the radio we hear news reports about riots in other parts of the country.

The film takes an unexpected turn when, in a documentary fragment, the director’s father and older brother appear on screen. Then it becomes apparent that much of what we’ve seen is autobiographical – the title refers to an event that took place when Somumjarn was six months old. Fiction, reality, memories and dreamlike images become increasingly intertwined.

This first full-length feature film by former architecture student Somumjarn leans primarily on moods and feelings. A lot remains unsaid. Beauty can be inside issues, such as caring for a horse, the landscape or a karaoke song about diverging life paths. It’s also a meditation. And, as the director says: ‘This is the story of my land.’ –IFFR