Isan Odyssey อีสานอำพราง

Film

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Feature Film

Shot through a queer lens, this hybrid documentary about music and political repression in Thailand is ambitious and unpredictable.

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Programme History

Part of Queer East Festival 2026

Director: Thunska Pansittivorakul
Runtime: 80 Mins
Year: 2026
Country: Thailand

Ambitious and unpredictable, this hybrid documentary from director Thunska Pansittivorakul commences as a film about Mor Lam, a type of folk music that originated in Laos and continues to be popular in Isan, Thailand’s largest yet poorest region. The director documents Mor Lam in its contemporary incarnation as a glitzy entertainment spectacle, before turning to its roots in political protest. At this point, the film evolves in surprising ways, mounting a searing critique of state repression and political violence, while exploring the ambiguous connections between history and performance, the documented and the staged. Queer in its gaze and endlessly inventive in its style, Isan Odyssey is about the power of human bodies and voices to tell stories that many in power would prefer to be forgotten.