Dr Birdman

Thai, 2020, 174 mins, in Thai, no English subtitles

If you speak some Thai, it’s not hard to follow though unfortunately there’re no English subtitles for this lovely experience.  Watching a cardiologist flip through fifteen books of nature sketches and notes, lovingly drawn and painted over thirty years, doesn’t sound like much of a movie. Instead of attending a lecture, however, we are absorbed and amused because our forest guide by art happens to be Rungsrit Kanjanavanit or ‘Dr Mong’, well-known Thai conservationist, bird-watcher and nature artist. Aside from a talent for story-telling as he relates sublime and comical experiences, and his obviously sincere and profound love for this sacred planet, the beauty of his accomplished and charming pictures accompanied by his spot-on rendering of a whole flock of bird songs, cries and noises, makes us feel like we’re watching an animated film. But there is sadness beneath all the sweetness and light, since in the final analysis this is a life or death issue; the extinction of species, the survival of nature and therefore ourselves, as seen through the lens of love and beauty. (Alice Skinhead)

Shot, Edited & Directed by Ing K

Cast: Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, Supreeya Kanjanavanit, King Kong