Amazing Stoner Movie Manifesto

What is a stoner movie?

This was the Golden Ganja question as we watched the exotic entries one after another. It’s not just the dude stuff or the trippy images with disassociated dialogue. It dawned on us that what makes a film a stoner movie is its sense of reality, a certain observational distance—Zen detachment. They don’t all show ganja on screen or even touch on weed culture, but they all have in common the state of being stoned.

The point being: If contemporary consensus reality with its abusive half-truths is clearly losing its mind, artists, filmmakers and cinephiles have the right—even the dharma—to subvert and shatter that cherished mirage.

All we weed is love.

Dr Alice Skinhead
programmer

Cinema Oasis Amazing Stoner Movie Fest

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Amazing Stoner Movie Fest #4

7 – 10 November 2024

at Cinema Oasis in Bangkok, Thailand

CALL FOR ENTRIES

Submission Deadline :  15 September 2024

*** UPDATE April 2024 ***

Why, at this time of near-total eclipse in world affairs, are we holding something so ‘silly’ as the 4th Amazing Stoner Movie Fest? Because being silly while faced with helplessness and doom is good for you, and because everyone had so much fun last year, that’s why. Meanwhile we stand by our cinematic manifesto below, sworn on our sacred plant whose legal status in Thailand is still not secure, despite the proliferation of weed shops around the festival venue, Cinema Oasis.

Ganja was still illegal in Thailand when Foundation Cinema Oasis for freedom of cinematic expression held its first Amazing Stoner Movie Fest, 8 – 11 August 2019. Many people warned of dire consequences, but miraculously the police did not come and we did not get shut down (which wouldn’t have been the first time). We posted signs requesting people not to light up so all would go well. All did go well.

Then the worldwide COVID Lockdown, during which all cinemas had to close their doors, meant the 2nd edition of the festival was postponed until 10 – 13 November 2022, by which time the Thai government under PM Prayudh ChanOcha had decriminalized ganja nationwide.

In celebration of this stupendous news, in addition to the regular screenings inside the cinema, another screen was set up in the atrium and with the help of mats and bean bags, an open-air garden cinema was created, flanked by two premium weed stalls (the one under the Buddha Tree actually run by Sagar Singh Sivaraman, director of ‘30K An Ounce’, first winner of the Crystal Bong for Best Stoner Short Film). A very happy festival was enjoyed by all.

That atmosphere of freedom is unfortunately threatened by the results of recent general elections in Thailand, which was won by political parties that have vowed to recriminalize our sacred plant. A War on Drugs has also been promised by one of the parties that had once waged a War on Drugs that killed over 2,000 people in Thailand in 2004. The sense of uncertainty and dread have prompted well-wishers to warn that we should delay the next Amazing Stoner Movie Fest “until it is safe to do so.”

How often have we followed such apparently sage advice, only to discover too late that we have merely given free rein to the oppressors of our freedom? It’s more important than ever to celebrate ganja as a sacred part of traditional Thai culture. We’re not going back into the closet.

This Call For Entries is therefore a Call To Arms.

In 2019, the Golden Ganja for Best Stoner Movie went to the mind-blowing ‘SuperPsychoCebu’ (dir. Christian Linaban) from the Philippines. The super slick ‘30K An Ounce’ (dir. Sagar Singh Sivaraman, Thai-born Indian filmmaker) won the short film prize, then called the Crystal Bong (now changed to the Baby Golden Ganja due to difficulty in sending ‘drug paraphernalia’ abroad to a winner).

COVID Lockdown postponed the 2nd edition until November 2022, when awesome Brazilian Kung Fu stoner movie The Smoke Master (dir. Andre Sigwalt & Augusto Soares) won the Golden Ganja, while eerie ‘Face to Face’(dir. Florent Mahoukou) from the Congo won the Crystal Bong. Special award Most Shocking Stoner Movie went to the emasculating Space Birth 2 (dir. Marius Jopen, Richard Keith, Audrey Beland). The hysterical The Maestro (dir. Paul Spurrier, Bangkok-based English filmmaker) won the Audience Award.

The 2023 Golden Ganja went to the soul-sucking and mesmerising Blood Rain (dir. Achitaphon Piansukprasert) from Thailand, while the accomplished and uncompromising Blessed Demon (dir. Kitpasit Tinnachartarak; Peerapat Singtothong; Thanarote Khaopare), also from Thailand, won the Baby Golden Ganja. The classically surrealist Head in the Clouds (dir. Luca Storch, Moritz Goebel) from Germany took the Audience Award and another Thai film, the wrenching music documentary Pain of Silence (dir. Christopher Janwong McKiggan) was awarded Most Necessary Film.

It’s not surprising when you think about it that the 3 short films that have won Best Stoner Short Film all deal with oppression: being forced to pay bribe to police after a weed bust (30K An Ounce); the history of the slave trade in the Congo (Face to Face); Siamese colonial suppression of Ubon (Blessed Demon). After all, stoners or ganja-chon in Thai, well understand what it is to be a victim of oppression—of cultural oppression and misrepresentation, of slander as well as criminalisation of Lord Shiva’s sacred plant.

Thai filmmakers have no human rights so long as they can be banned. Thus stoners and filmmakers are a perfect match in the struggle for the freedom to be our true selves and tell our stories with truth, beauty and unrestricted imagination.

Downstairs in the atrium the post-sunset open-air screenings (kicked off by Thai ganja icon Piak Lek Hip and Iron Pussy director and star Michael Shaowanasai with his original cult ‘The Adventures of Iron Pussy Episode 2’) amidst the bean bags, cushions and the happy stall the chill vibe reigned. May we continue to be free, to be ourselves, unhurried and unbullied, out of the dark closet and the silence. May cinema follow ganja out of that darkness of enforced silence, into the light of day.

Boom Shankar!

Who will win the Golden Ganja and USD 1,000 at the 4th Amazing Stoner Movie Fest?
Who will win the Baby Golden Ganja and 5,000 Thai baht for Best Stoner Short Film?

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The Golden Ganja award + 30,000 baht cash (1,000 usd)
The Baby Golden Ganja award + 5,000 baht cash (200 usd)
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Selected films will be screened at the Amazing Stoner Movie Contest November 9-12 when the winners will be announced.

7 – 10 November 2024

at Cinema Oasis in Bangkok, Thailand

Deadline 15 September 2024
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We can’t wait to see your films!

Technical Information

Screening Format :  MP4 / Bluray / DVD / DCP/most other files, but sadly no 16 or 35mm film

Entry Fee: 500 baht/ 1 film

No need for an application form, but please include all practical information (filmmaker’s name, film title, length, format, contact info, brief synopsis).

Please send your screener to:

Cinema Oasis (Stoner Movie Contest)

4 Sukhumvit 43, Bangkok 10110

or Email : cinemaoasis.bk@gmail.com