The Burning Giants
Southeast Asian Premiere
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng Thailand, France, Singapore, Netherlands 2026 118 min PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Disturbing Scenes)
Along the Thai-Myanmar border, a mysterious illness marks Karen bodies with burns and an activist is killed for defending his village’s land, all while a toxic haze spreads across Western Thailand.
A Karen man is picked up by forestry officers, his body marked by strange burns no doctor can explain, and taken to a quarantine facility. Elsewhere, drawing on a real-life killing, an Indigenous rights activist is chased from his village and dies for opposing its forced eviction. As a toxic haze creeps towards Thailand’s migrant workers, these separate lives are gradually revealed to be intertwined.
The Burning Giants unfolds without a single protagonist to anchor our gaze. Through measured cinematography, the film builds an immersive and atmospheric world with a magical realist register. The haunting sound design evokes the dread and grief that the images leave unsaid, allowing maladies, otherness and displacement to emerge from the smog with pointed social urgency.
Synopsis Writer: Sim Jiaying
Asian Feature Film Competition, Audience Choice Award, Q&A
27 Oct, Tue 9:00PM / 118 min
Golden Village Cineleisure, Hall 1
Asian Feature Film Competition, Audience Choice Award, Q&A
29 Oct, Thu 9:00PM / 118 min
Golden Village Cineleisure, Hall 2
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The Burning Giants
Yak Mai
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Thailand, France, Singapore, Netherlands
2026
Thai, Karen
English
118 min
PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Disturbing Scenes)
Southeast Asian Premiere
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng
Phuttiphong Aroonpheng is a Thai director and cinematographer. His films often explore the lives of marginalised individuals, accompanied by dreamlike visuals. His short film, Ferris Wheel (2015), received the Special Mention at SGIFF. Manta Ray (2018), his feature debut, won Venice’s Orizzonti Award for Best Film, and this was followed by Morrison (2023), which competed at SGIFF. The Burning Giants premiered in Orizzonti at Venice.
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