Arnold Is a Model Student

a film by

Thailand, Singapore, France, the Netherlands, Phillipines / 85' / 08/2022 / fiction

Arnold is a clever student who has won many academic awards. One day, he meets Bee who runs an underground business helping students cheat on their exams. Bee asks Arnold to join his cheating ring and offers him a lot of money.
While Arnold considers working with Bee, many of his schoolmates, unhappy with their school’s disrespect of their freedom, organise a big protest.

“An ambiguous and morally charged portrait of a youth rebellion and a study of an oppressive institutional environment”
Square Eyes - LF-OS-POS
Square Eyes - Busan
Square Eyes - Asian Feature Film Competition Special Mention
“An ambiguous and morally charged portrait of a youth rebellion and a study of an oppressive institutional environment”
Square Eyes - LF-OS-POS
Square Eyes - Busan
Square Eyes - Asian Feature Film Competition Special Mention

Sorayos Prapapan

Biography

Sorayos PRAPAPAN (b. 1986, Thailand) is an independent filmmaker. He has directed several short films which have won awards in his home country and have been screened at many international film festivals including Venice, Locarno, Rotterdam and Clermont-Ferrand. His first feature film Arnold Is A Model Student was selected for the 2022 Locarno Film Festival.

Filmography

Arnold Is a Model Student – 2022 – debut feature

Square Eyes -

Crew

Director: Sorayos Prapapan
Screenplay: Sorayos Prapapan
Producer: Sorayos Prapapan, Donsaron Kovitvanitcha
Co-Producers: Anthony Chen, Tan Si En, Denis Vaslin, Jeremy Zelnik,
Armi Rae Cacanindin
Production company: Minimal Animal
Co-production company: Giraffe Pictures, Dibona Films, Volya Films, Cinematografica Films
Line producer: Cattleya Paosrijaroen, Soros Sukhum, Fleur Knopperts
Cinematographer: Lim Teck Siang
Sound Design: Jaim Sahuleka VCA
Editor: Carlo Francisco Manatad
Composer: Nattapong Pipattanasub, Supanut Decha-umphai
Production Designer: Rasiguet Sookkarn
Casting director: Soifa Saenkhamkon, Tippawan Narintorn
Cast: Korndanai Marc Dautzenberg, Winyu Wongsurawat

Festivals

  • Locarno Film Festival, Switzerland (3 – 13 August, 2022)
    Concorso Cineasti Del Presente
  • Busan International Film Festival, South-Korea (5 – 14 October, 2022)
    A Window on Asian Cinema
  • Jakarta Film Week, Indonesia (13 – 16 October, 2022)
    Global Feature Competition
  • Lima Alterna Festival Internacional de Cine, Peru (13 – 23 October, 2022)
    International Competition
  • BaliMakarya Film Festival, Indonesia (16 – 21 October, 2022)
    Main Competition
  • Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, Hong Kong (25 October – 13 November, 2022)
    New Talent Awards Won: New Talent Award
  • Tokyo FILMex International Film Festival, Japan (29 October – 6 November, 2022)
    Main competition
  • Golden Horse Film Festival, Taiwan (2 – 20 November, 2022)
    Windows on Asia & NETPAC Award Candidate
  • Cork International Film Festival, Ireland (10 – 20 November, 2022)
    Youth Jury Award competition
  • Film Festival of India (IFFI Goa), India (20 – 28 November, 2022)
    Cinema of the World section
  • Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, Poland (16 November – 4 December, 2022)
    New Asian Cinema Competition Won: Best Film
  • Singapore International Film Festival, Singapore (24 November – 4 December, 2022)
    Asian Feature Film Competition Special Mention
  • Jogja-NETPAC Asian FF (JAFF), Indonesia (26 November – 3 December, 2022)
    Main Competition
  • Hainan Island International Film Festival, China (18 – 25 December, 2022)
    Panorama
  • Novos Cinemas. Pontevedra International Film Festival, Spain (13 – 18 December, 2022)
    Main Competition Won: Young Jury Award for Best Director
  • Pame International Film Festival, Nepal (27 – 31 December, 2022)
    Official Selection
  • International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands (25 January – 5 February, 2023)
    Harbour
  • LuxFilmFest, Belgium (2 – 12 March, 2023)
    Official Selection out of competition
  • Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival (BFMAF), England (3 – 5 March, 2023) UK premiere
    Official Selection

Password




Press materials

EPK: Click here

Stills, poster & director’s photo: Click here

Dialogue list English: Click here

Trailer: Click here

Excerpts and trailer: Click here

Press quotes

“An ambiguous and morally charged portrait of a youth rebellion and a study of an oppressive institutional environment”
“a heart-breaking portrait of a conformist rebellion”
Review – Maja Korbecka – EasternKicks.com

“One of the more unlikely films to emerge from this year’s Locarno is the Thai debut Arnold Is a Model Student”
“but in Model Student those ideas feel subtly baked-in, never explicitly explained but always clear. As the film keeps you on your toes, attuned to the wider politics, subtexts become sharper.”
Review – Rory O’Connor – The Film Stage

“this quietly angry film humorously examines the country’s educational hypocrisies”
Review – John Bleasdale – BFI Sight and Sound

“Despite the clarity and severity of its political stance, the film nevertheless maintains a carefully controlled deadpan tone, deploying mostly static handheld shots and unhurried editing to force the absurdities of Thai society to speak for themselves”
Review – David Robb – Slant

“The film is a growing-up story of a model student in a teen drama develops into a critique of the repressive and corrupt education system in Thailand, implicating even the whole social and political establishment. It strikes a perfect balance between outrage and irreverence. Its satire on the elite and the privileged is subtle but hits the bullseye. The director shows a rare maturity in his feature debut by tackling the subject with urgent social concerns in an unruffled, even humorous manners.”
Jury statement Hong Kong Asian Film Festival

Interview: ‘Arnold Is a Model Student’: Sorayos Prapapan’s Debut, Inspired in Part by Thailand’s Bad Student Movement – Srikanth Srinivasan & Andrew Northrop – Variety