Branding collaborative pan-Asian authorship in the transnational works of New Thai cinema auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the definition and characteristics of pan-Asian film authorship and aesthetics advocated by the late Wouter Barendrecht, film producer of Fortissimo Film Sales, as employed to promote the Thai film auteur Pen-ek Ratanaruang. Through collaboration with East Asian film industries, such as the ones in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea during the period of intensified pan-Asian co-production at the turn of the century, Pen-ek was branded a pan-Asian auteur for the global film market on account of his pan-Asian identity, rather than his association with the New Thai Cinema label. Barendrecht employed two strategies – the auteur as brand, and the region as brand – to construct the image of this new pan-Asian author. By considering these branding strategies, it can be argued – following Nissim Otmazgin and Eyal Ben-Ari – that a cultural imbalance between East Asia and Southeast Asia still persists: East Asia as cultural producer and Southeast Asia as market.