Santi-Vina

Santi and Vina are childhood sweethearts whose bond has stood the test of time. But when the brutish Grai seeks Vina’s hand in marriage, the lovers find themselves defying society in this tender, timeless tale of doomed romance.

The first Thai feature film shot in 35mm colour, Thavi Na Bangchang’s sublime romantic tragedy Santi-Vina dramatises the ill-fated love between the visually impaired Santi and his childhood sweetheart Vina. Considered lost for a long time, the film’s original negatives were found at the British Film Institute in 2014, leading to a painstaking restoration that premiered at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.

The rediscovery and restoration of Santi-Vina is only the latest chapter in the film’s curiously chequered history: written and co-produced by Robert North, an anti-communist American war veteran with reported CIA connections, the film found distribution in Soviet Russia and Maoist China, even featuring in the 1957 Asian Film Week in Beijing, the catalyst for the explicitly anti-imperialist Afro-Asian Film Festivals (1958-64).

The film itself, though, seems shielded from these political crosscurrents, unfolding in a place and time untouched by history. A work of unassuming lyricism shot in natural locations, Santi-Vina abounds in eternal, eminently cinematic elements – sunlight, caves, trees, rivers – whose majestic serenity is reflected in the sober, measured quality of the film. With its soft palette, lush musical score and heartrending climax, this gentle film immerses viewers in a world of lucid emotions and pristine romance.

– Srikanth Srinivasan

Trailer

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