THE SCAR
(แผลเก่า)
dir. Cherd Songsri, 1977
133 mins. Thailand.
In Thai with English subtitles.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5 - 7:30PM
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 13 - 7:30PM
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 17 - 7:30PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 26 - 5PM

Taking place largely in the Thai rice paddies of the 1930s, Cherd Songsri’s screenplay follows Kwan (Sorapong Chatree) and Riam (Nantana Ngaograjang), two young farmers descended of warring tribal chiefs. Instead of permitting her to keep seeing Kwan, Riam’s father sends her to Bangkok where she is sold into slavery, only to be adopted by an sympathic yet controlling aristocrat who transforms her into a surrogate daughter, complete with western-style clothes and an arranged, or at least heavily suggested, fiancee. The inevitable return of Riam to her home village means seeing Kwan again, reigniting the unrequited flame of teenage love, and setting off a chain of events that can only end in tragedy.
THE SCAR was the highest grossing film in Thai history upon its 1977 release, and occasioned a remake in 2002; pulse-pounding, saturated in color and sweeping in scope, it’s an unabashedly emotional epic comparable to those of David Lean or Sergei Bondarchuk. These will be THE SCAR’s first public screenings in the United States since the Thai Film Archive premiered their 4K restoration at the Museum of Modern Art in 2020.

Special thanks to Kong Rithdee and Sanchai Chotirosseranee (Thai Film Archive.)