Thailand has selected Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples to Heaven as its submission for the best international feature category at the 99th Academy Awards.
The National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations, Thailand’s Oscar selection body, chose the film from 51 eligible titles after narrowing the field to eight. According to reports in the Thai press, the committee said it held several rounds of deliberations before settling on 9 Temples to Heaven, citing its distinctiveness, overall quality, profound subject matter and the reception it received from international critics after its Cannes debut.
The film world premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight section in May, becoming the first Thai feature selected for the sidebar in nearly two decades.
A gently comic family road movie, 9 Temples to Heaven follows businessman Sakol as he’s warned by a fortune teller that his ailing mother may soon die. Hoping to ward off the prophecy, he packs his mom and their extended family into a van for a single-day pilgrimage to nine Buddhist temples, where clashing beliefs and simmering tensions among the family steadily emerge as the elderly matriarch grows increasingly exhausted.
The film is Chidgasornpongse’s first narrative feature. He previously directed the documentary Railway Sleepers and spent roughly two decades working as an assistant director to acclaimed Thai auteur Apichatpong Weerasethakul on films including Tropical Malady, Syndromes and a Century, Cemetery of Splendour and Memoria. Apichatpong serves as a producer on 9 Temples to Heaven alongside Kissada Kamyoung.
Since Cannes, the film has picked up a number of honors on the festival circuit. Chidgasornpongse won best director in the Asian New Talent competition at the Shanghai International Film Festival, where Sompop Songkampol also took best actor. The film was picked up a jury prize at the New Zealand International Film Festival this week. It will make its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival this fall. Playtime is handling international sales.
9 Temples to Heaven is scheduled to open theatrically in Thailand on Sept. 17.
Thailand has yet to secure an Oscar nomination in the international feature category. Its closest showing came in 2024 with Pat Boonnitipat’s How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, which became the first Thai submission ever to reach the 15-title shortlist.
The 99th Academy Awards will be held March 14, 2027.
