Mai Meksawan’s Thailand-based production, sales and distribution company Diversion has picked up international sales rights to “This Is What I Remember,” a film by Kyrgyz director Aktan Arym Kubat.
“This Is What I Remember” tells the story of an amnesiac old man, played by the director himself, who returns to his homeland after 23 years of ordeals in foreign lands. Events take place in a village in Kyrgyzstan, where he is brought by his adult son. Much has changed during his absence. These include the morals of the villagers, the realities of a changing world, the rise of radical Islam, crime and corruption.
The film had its world premiere in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival in October and subsequently won the Jury Grand Prize at the Australia-based APSA Awards.
The film is a co-production between Kyrgyzstan producers Kyrgyzfilm and Oy Art, with Volya Films (The Netherlands), Bitters End (Japan) and Mandra Films (France).
Diversion is particularly known for its production role on Puttipong Aroonpheng’s 2019 break-out Thai art film “Manta Ray” which mysteriously probed the situation of Myanmar refugees. Aroonpheng was cinematographer on Jakrawal Nilthamrong’s “Anatomy of Time,” another well-regarded Diversion production from 2021.
Also on Diversion’s current sales line-up is Aamir Bashir’s “The Winter Within,” which debuted at Busan and the 3 Continents Festival in Nantes and Lav Diaz’s similarly well-traveled “A Tale of Filipino Violence.”
The company will next be presenting at the Rotterdam festival’s CineMart, where it has a project selected, and at February’s European Film Market in Berlin.