Note: Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse‘s Railway Sleepers delves, from the country’s earliest railway, into its territory, people in different regions, sceneries, and the layering interconnections and thoughts. In his research, he discovered the term “railway sleepers,” refers to the rectangular railroad ties supporting the rails. The meaning is enriched through the director’s interpretation, connoting more than railroad ties but also the sleeping passengers, or even "late bloomers" that are about to wake up. The author, Yizai Seah, takes the fluctuating rhymes of railways and elaborates the genesis and variables of "railways" as a symbol of modernity.
Sompot Chidgasornpongse, Railway Sleepers; photo courtesy of TIDF 2018
OPENING OF THE PAKNAM RAILWAY. ,“The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser”, 1893/4/18, P3
McCarthy, James Fitzroy; Pavie, Auguste, Map of the Kingdom of Siam & its dependencies. Source: http://library.artstor.org/asset/SS33631_33631_27274729; 2018/6/9擷取
McCarthy, James Fitzroy. (1900). Surveying and exploring in Siam. London: J. Murray, P39