9 Temples To Heaven
Singapore Premiere
Sompot Chidgasornpongse Thailand, Singapore, France, Norway, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Qatar 2026 140 min PG13 (Some Smoking Scenes)
Faced with the imminent death of his mother, a man leads three generations of his family on a single-day temple pilgrimage—where prayer meets doubt, and reason wrestles with superstition.
When a middle-aged businessman learns that his mother’s death is imminent, he packs the entire family of nine into a van for a single-day pilgrimage to nine temples, hoping to gain enough merit to alter her fate. But the road trip soon becomes fraught: old wounds resurface, alongside generational tension, marital strife, and clashing views on faith and modernity. As the matriarch begins to tire, the family reckon with their fractures and the reality of aging.
Drifting effortlessly between scientific rationality, spiritual recourse and the inevitability of mortality, the camera moves like a floating consciousness through architecture and landscapes. What emerges is a restrained commentary on Buddhist culture while the search for rationality crumbles.
Synopsis Writer: Monica Gyamlani
Asian Feature Film Competition, Audience Choice Award, Q&A
27 Oct, Tue 3:00PM / 140 min
National Museum Singapore, Gallery Theatre
31 Oct, Sat 10:30AM / 140 min
Golden Village Cineleisure, Hall 1
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9 Temples To Heaven
9 วัด สู่สวรรค์
Sompot Chidgasornpongse
Thailand, Singapore, France, Norway, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Qatar
2026
Thai
English
140 min
PG13 (Some Smoking Scenes)
Singapore Premiere
Sompot Chidgasornpongse
Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s short films include The Physical Realm (2023) which screened in competition at SGIFF. He is also known for his feature documentary, Railway Sleepers (2016), which premiered in competition at Busan. He was an assistant director in many films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who also produced this feature debut. 9 Temples to Heaven premiered at Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes.
Amara Ramnarong,
Surachai Ningsanond,
Sompop Songkampol
Kissada Kamyoung,
Apichatpong Weerasethakul