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February 29, 12:00 p.m.
Presented by Professor Surapone Virulrak, Chulalongkorn University

This research aims at studying the status of performing arts in this reign, starting from the first year of his Accession to the Throne in 1946 until the Celebration of His Majesty the King’s 72nd Birthday in 1999. The research focuses on all kinds of theatre and dance seen in Thailand during this period. All information is gleaned from documentaries, observations, interviews, and the researcher’s own experiences.

Surapone Virulrak is a Professor in Performing Arts, a Professor Emeritus in Communication Arts and a Member of the Royal Institute of Thailand. He has written three plays for the stage in Thailand and published extensively on the performing arts under the reign of Kings Rama V and Rama IX, in addition to authoring works on the performing arts in Indonesia and Thailand. Virulrak earned a Ph.D. in Drama and Theatre (Asian Theatre) from the University of Hawaii in 1980.

Wednesday, 20 February
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Directed by Jeffrey Jeturian
Philippines, 2003, 105 minutes
Tagalog and English with English Subtitles

Before Jeffrey Jeturian made his art house favorite KUBRADOR, he filmed BIKINI OPEN, a mockumentary poking fun at reality television, morality and the nature of fame in the modern Philippines. A television reporter, portrayed by the ever luminous Cherry Pie Picahce, is desperate for ratings. Her new show goes behind-the-scenes at one of the Philippines’ many bikini fashion contests to expose the hypocrisy, competition and the shallowness of all involved. Scantily-clad bodies, Filipino in-jokes and subtle, witty humor make this satire both biting and entertaining!

Jeffrey Jeturian holds a communication arts degree from the University of the Philippines. He started as a production assistant for Marilou Diaz Abaya’s ALYAS BABY TSINA (1984) before embarking on a career as a script supervisor, production designer, television director and finally, as film director. His first two films, SANA PAG-IBIG NA (1998) and PILA BALDE (1999) are both critically acclaimed. PILA BALDE, with the international title FETCH A PAIL OF WATER, in addition bagged a round of overseas honors—Gold Prize, 2000 Houston-Worldfest (Texas, USA) International Film Festival; NETPAC Jury Prize, 1999 Cinemanila International Film Festival; exhibition in Lincoln Center in the United States as well as in other countries such as Sweden, Germany, France, Bangladesh, Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore, Colombia, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Italy. Variety, the United States’ entertainment bible, carried in its recent issue a feature on Jeffrey. His seventh film, KUBRADOR, is the current toast of critics and film buffs.

IMDB Website | View Trailer on Youtube.com

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February 15, 12:00 p.m.
Presented by Professor Pierre Asselin, Chaminade University

Due to the failure of western scholars to exploit records and studies in the Vietnamese language, there are few good studies and assessments of the communist leadership prior to the Viet Nam War. That is especially evident in the work of American diplomatic historians, whose studies on the war reflect a poor understanding of “the enemy.” In a recent essay, to illustrate, Robert Buzzanco suggested that history and instinct were the primary forces guiding the Vietnamese war effort. “The Vietnamese viewed their struggle [against the United States] as another round in a historical process that had already lasted over two millennia,” he wrote, making no similar reductionist claim about the forces behind the American war effort. Viet Nam was “pulled into conflict due to the United States’ larger goals in that region,” Buzzanco also wrote, leaving no room for agency on the part of Vietnamese leaders in the causes and coming of the war. Among the least studied and most misunderstood dimensions of this time period are the workings of the Hanoi leadership, including its organizational functions, its political philosophy, and its perspectives on conflict with the United States.This talk addresses the policymaking of leaders of the Vietnamese Workers’ Party in the pivotal period of 1963-64. Specifically, it traces the rise and triumph of a “hawkish” group within the Party leadership, and the consequences of that change of leadership for the revolutionary situation in southern Viet Nam, for North Viet Nam’s relationship with China and the Soviet Union, and for the coming of the American war.

Pierre Asselin is associate professor in the Department of Historical and Political Studies at Chaminade University of Honolulu. He is the author of A Bitter Peace: Washington, Hanoi, and the Making of the Paris Agreement (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2002).

Wednesday, 13 February
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

Directed by Tran Dac and Amar Laskri
Algeria/Vietnam, 1998, 105 minutes
Vietnamese, Arabic and French with English Subtitles

In the 1950s, the French Army sent thousands of indigènes, soldiers conscripted from colonies in North Africa, to fight in the so-called “Dirty War” in Indochina. Set against the growing Vietnamese struggle for independence is a love story involving Ali, portrayed by Algerian actor El-Mellouhi Niddal, and Lien (Nguyen An Chinh), a beautiful Viet Minh guerrilla. As the war progresses and Ali witnesses the growing abuse of the Vietnamese people, he questions the horrible war he and his fellow soldiers have been fighting on behalf of the French. Lien (whose name means “lotus”) inspires Ali and his Algerian comrades to abandon their French officers and join the Viet Minh at the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu.

BONG SEN is a remarkable co-production between Algeria and Vietnam. The film won Third Prize at the Seventh Festival of African Cinema in Morocco. The film also marks the first collaboration between the luminous Vietnamese actresses Nguyen An Chinh and Le Khanh, both of whom later appeared together in the 2000 film festival favorite, VERTICAL RAY OF THE SUN. BONG SEN was helmed by Tran Dac (director of AUGUST STAR, winner of the Golden Lotus Prize) and Belgrade-trained Algerian filmmaker Amar Laskri (PATROL IN THE EAST).

This rarely seen film – one of the last films made by Algeria before all film production ended during that nation’s tumultuous “invisible war” in the 1990s – has been translated and subtitled by students at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Hawaii, and is presented for the first time with English subtitles!

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February 8, 12:00 p.m.
Presented by Professor Will McClatchey, University of Hawaii

This research tests a hypothesis that is built upon the assumption that samples of cultural knowledge can serve as appropriate scale measures of biodiversity for within-hotspot distribution analysis. Correlation between ethnographic and botanical research methods is used to evaluate the hypothesis. Research conducted in Northeast Thailand will be presented as an example.

Will McClatchey grew up on the White Mountain Reservation in Arizona before his family moved to Oregon where he finished college at Oregon State University earning B.S. degrees in Anthropology and Pharmacy. He worked as a community and consultant pharmacist for ten years during which time he earned an M.S. in Botany (Ethnobotany) from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. in Botany (Evolutionary Biology) from the University of Florida. He is currently Professor of Botany at the University of Hawaii. Dr. McClatchey’s research addresses hypotheses about the evolution of patterns of human interactions with plants and ecosystems. While his past research was largely conducted in the South and Western Pacific region his current research is taking place in Southeast Asia where he is studying relationships between distribution patterns of human knowledge of biodiversity and actual biodiversity.

A (Balinese) Tempest

Directed by Larry Reed, Artistic Director of ShadowLight Productions, San Francisco
Musical Director: I Nyoman Sumandhi, Bali

Production Director: Kirstin Pauka,University of Hawai’i at Manoa

Jan 25, 26, 31, Feb 1, 2, 3 2008

This unusual adaptation of Shakespeare’s most musical and magical play is about a sorcerer and dethroned Milanese duke (Prospero), who has been banished with his daughter Miranda to an enchanted island.

Guest artist Larry Reed fuses Balinese and Elizabethan elements with his hallmark shadowcasting method, which utilizes a giant screen and live performers to create a magical shadow theatre performance. The production will also feature live musical accompaniment by the UH Balinese Gamelan Ensemble under the direction of guest artist I Nyoman Sumandhi. 

For more information go to hawaii.edu/theatre

Wednesday, 5 February
6:30 p.m. – Korean Studies Auditorium

A Yee Myint Production
Myanmar, 2005, 133 minutes
Burmese and English with English Subtitles

THE LEGEND OF LADY HILL is a Burmese supernatural melodrama. When young rich city boy, Tun, visits the town Lady Hill and impetuously flirts with the pretty village girl, Thuzar, he unknowingly disrupts a village spirit ceremony. When Thuzar’s husband dies in an accident that evening, she and the rest of the village believe it is the vengeful punishment of, Ma Ma U, the protective spirit who guards the village. Thuzar and angry villagers blame the recalcitrant Tun and chase him from the village.

Twenty years later the repercussions of this sad event are still being felt. When Tun’s son, La Min, visits the same village and meets the beautiful Pha-yaung Ban, all sorts of trouble befalls them. Have the spirits cursed this couple? Or are more terrestrial forces working to keep them apart?

THE LEGEND OF LADY HILL is a soap opera love story transfused with Buddhist ethics and Myanmar’s rich religious culture. Scenes rich with traditional music and religious ceremony should please those with an interest in Burmese culture. This film was subtitled as part of the University of Hawaii’s Southeast Asian Film Translation Project and is the first subtitled Burmese language film available for public viewing in the United States.