''Butterfly and Flowers'' ( th, ผีเสื้อและดอกไม้, or ''Peesua lae dokmai'') is a 1985
Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
directed by
Euthana Mukdasanit
Euthana Mukdasanit ( th, ยุทธนา มุกดาสนิท, born May 25, 1952) is a Thai film director screenwriter and National Artist of the Performing Arts (film director). As a contemporary director of Chatrichalerm Yukol, Euthan ...
, set in
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
-majority
southern Thailand
Southern Thailand, Southern Siam or Tambralinga is a southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand region by the Kra Isthmus.
Geography
Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bounded ...
. The film was screened at the 1985
Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii.
HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is h ...
, one of the earliest Thai films to gain exposure outside Thailand.
The film is adapted from a 1978 novel of the same title by Nipphan (Makut Oradee), which won the award at the Thailand National Book Fair. The book has become required reading for secondary schoolchildren in Thailand.
Regarded as one of the best Thai films ever made, ''Butterfly and Flower'' (''Peesua lae Dokmai''), highlights the hardships faced by a boy who works selling popsicles at the local train station and forced by economic circumstance to smuggle rice across the Thai-Malaysian border. Aside from exposing Thai audiences to regional poverty, the 1985 movie broke new ground by portraying a Buddhist-Muslim romance. ''Butterfly and Flower'' delighted the Thai public when it earned a Best Film award at the 1986 East-West Film Festival in Honolulu .
Cast
* Suriya Yaowasang as Hu Yan
* Wasana Pholyiam as Mimpi
* Suchao Pongwilai as Hu Yan's dad
* Duangjai Hathaikarn as teacher
External links
*
*
Butterfly and Flowers' at SiamZone
1985 films
1985 drama films
Thai drama films
Thai-language films
Films based on Thai novels
Thai national heritage films
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