Four newly 4K-restored features by Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul have been acquired by The Match Factory for international sales, the company has revealed, with a formal launch planned for the upcoming Venice International Film Festival. The quartet spans more than a decade of Weerasethakul’s work: “Blissfully Yours” (2002), recipient of the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes; “Tropical Malady” (2004), winner of the Cannes Jury Prize; “Syndromes and a Century” (2006), which bowed in Competition at Venice; and “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” (2010), which claimed the Palme d’Or at Cannes. The Match Factory holds rights in all territories except North America, the U.K., Ireland, Japan, Switzerland, and Thailand.
The acquisitions deepen an existing relationship between the sales outfit and the filmmaker. The Match Factory already represents “Mekong Hotel” (2012), “Cemetery of Splendour” (2015), and “Memoria” (2021) – the latter a Cannes Jury Prize recipient starring Tilda Swinton. Weerasethakul personally supervised each restoration, which features audio that has been remastered and remixed alongside four newly commissioned key artworks.
The project drew on institutional and private backing from the Thai Film Archive, MoMA, Strand Releasing, Tomo Suzuki, Mehelli Modi and Second Run, and Cinémathèque Suisse, with production support from White Light Studio, 185 films, and Kick the Machine. Weerasethakul operates outside the Thai commercial studio system, channeling his projects through Kick the Machine Films, the production banner he established in 1999 to champion independent and experimental work. Alongside his eight feature films, his output spans short films, video installations, and live performances, with retrospectives mounted at institutions including Tate Modern, the Centre Pompidou, and MoMA.
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