FIRST-TIME DIRECTOR Siwaporn Pongsuwan decided she would get the hard stuff out of the way first. Children and animals, all in the one film - namely, A Bite of Love, a low-budget and surprisingly moving film about a runaway girl and the stray dog she befriends.
'Yes, I know what they say about not working with children and animals,' says the diminutive, soft-spoken Siwaporn, sipping water in the Bangkok office of the film's distributor, Sahamongkol Film. 'But, actually, it wasn't that bad. The dogs used in the film were all mine, so I knew their moods and personalities, and the way they would react, and that made the job a lot easier. Using my own dogs in a film has always been a dream of mine. Once you watch the film, you can see that the dogs' acting isn't a result of training but is a portrayal of their emotions and feelings. I found this to be a challenging task.'
Things were a little trickier in regards to the child, Nawarat Grace Techaratanaprasert, who plays Kao Niew (the movie's Thai title is Kao Niew Moo Ping - the names of the schoolgirl and the stray, but literally also meaning 'Sticky Rice Grilled Pork'). After filming had wrapped, the child star won the best actress award at Thailand's equivalent to the Oscars, for her debut in Er Rer (Beautiful, Wonderful, Perfect). Many felt her win owed more to her being the daughter of the Federation of Film Association of Thailand's president (Sahamongkol chief Somsak Techaratanaprasert) than for her acting.
The bad blood was such that there were even calls to boycott A Bite of Love, which Siwaporn says was unfair. 'I'm not worried about the critics,' she says. 'Awards have never had much to do with the box office. If I had to do it all over again, I would still cast Grace. She's a wonderful little actress and I think she gave a great performance in my film.
'I found her very mature. She had amazing self-discipline for a child. It's surprising to find an eight-year-old child able to work from 7am until as late as 9pm without getting fussy. Grace also loves dogs as much as myself, so she put a lot of effort into her acting. She also helped me handle them. She would notice if the dog acting in the next scene was tired and understand how she should interact with it.'
The film cost 10 million baht ($2 million) to make, and, according to Siwaporn, did 'reasonable' business during its short run in Thai cinemas in January. It was part of the line-up at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, and is about to enjoy a general release in Hong Kong and Singapore, with a run in Taiwan also being discussed. Siwaporn says Asian audiences will enjoy the film if they give it a chance.