Thaifjord I

Original title: Et lite stykke Thailand
Genre: Documentary series: 6 x 46 min.
Screening Format: Digi Beta/DVD
Release: January 2008, TVNorge
Main director: Tale Kristine Skeidsvoll
Co-directors: Gunhild Asting and Gunhild Westhagen Magnor
Producer: Hilde Skofteland
Trailer: Click here to watch trailer

”Thaifjord” is a documentary series following the life of five Thai women and their husbands living in a remote fjord in Norway.

All over the countryside in Norway an increasing number of men find their wives in Thailand and other Asian countries. But the women coming here to build a new life quickly find themselves the subject of discriminating opinions.

Most Norwegians consider the “Thai-ladies” to be desperate women escaping poverty and prostitution by marrying hopeless and sexist men. They are believed to live in bad relationships where they equally exploit each other, and there is no love or even respect between them.

But what do these men and women think about themselves and the choices they have made in their lives? What does relationship and marriage mean to them, and can they tell us anything about love?

In Thaifjord we meet the young man on his way to marry a stranger in Thailand, the elderly business-woman from Bangkok starting a Buddhist temple on her husband’s farm, the busy young mother that finds her way back to religion when she loses her own mother and the husband who has to help his wife back to life after a serious accident.

Five couples have opened their homes and harts to us – hoping it can make a difference. Together we have made a unique, honest and entertaining series about love and life in the village of Thaifjord.

Contact Skofteland film AS:

Hilde Skofteland
Executive producer
Phone +47 23691223/ + 47 90775786
E-mail: hilde@skoftelandfilm.no

The Participants in “Thaifjord”:

Odd and Noy

Odd (37) marries Noy (36) – a woman he hardly knows. They have a traditional wedding in Thailand the summer of 2006. As the tradition says, Odd pays Noy’s mother 2000 Euros in dowry to Noy’s family. He is just doing what he is told and feels like a tourist in his own wedding.

Three months after, Noy arrives in Tresfjord ready to start a new life. Noy barely speaks English and no Norwegian and has never been outside Thailand before.

The first months she feels very lonely and isolated. Odd travels a lot in his work and they get very little time together. Noy misses her family and friends very much, especially her mother. They communicate every day on the phone.

Odd’s mother lives next door, but she is skeptical to Noy and when she finally comes to visit the two women struggle to communicate. But Odd’s mother invites Noy over the next day.

How will Noy and Odd, coming from two different worlds, overcome all the challenges they meet? Will they manage to create a good life together?

Sumalee and Kåre

Sumalee (37), Kåre (47) married 13 years ago and Sumalee is now a typical working mother, not very different from her Norwegian friends.

In their summer holiday Kåre and Sumalee and their two young girls travels to Thailand to visit Sumalee’s mother. Just after they have arrived her mother becomes ill and dies. Sumalee’s last tie to Thailand is cut, and she realizes that Kåre is now her closest person in life.

Back in Norway she tries to get back into normal life with studies and work, but realizes that she needs let go of her mother to find the way ahead.

A visiting monk helps her deal with the grief and she involves herself in establishing a Buddhist temple in the village. For Sumalee it is important to be accepted in the Norwegian society and she invites the Norwegian Crone Princess to be their guest on the opening of the temple, hoping that she will come and give the “Thai Ladies” the support they need.

But most important of all, will Kåre and her daughters stand by her and accept that her Thai background becomes a more significant part of her?

Lakiska and Olav

Laksika (31) is a housewife married to the village’s lotto millionaire Olav (34). He works long days and Laksika seems bored and isolated in her spacious, new house.

She’d like to get a job and visit friends, and decides to try to go for a driver’s license. This will represent freedom for Laksika, both economically and physically.

But to be able to pass the test she needs to do a lot of reading and practice. She depends on Olav helping her out in the house and with the kid.

For Olav it is very convenient to have a wife taking care of everything at home and her independence might not be what he wants.

Will they manage to make room for both of them to have a life outside the house?

Nantaya and Lars

Nantaya (58) and Lars (67) moved together the day after they met, and have now been married for three years. Nantaya was recently elected leader of the Buddhist Association in Norway. She loves Norwegian nature and wildlife and so does Lars – but in a very different way. For more than 50 years he has been a passionate deer hunter.

Killing animals for recreation is a sore spot for Nantaya and she tries to convince him to stop. He argues that she must accept his culture the way he respects her.

She invites a monk to live on the farm to establish a temple there. This will mean even more restrictions on hunting for Lars and he is pushed to the edge of what he can take.

Nantaya and Lars found each other in mature age and they are both deeply tied to their own culture. Is the bond between them strong enough to find a compromise they both can live with?

Bunta and Johnny

Bunta (51) and her only daughter came to Norway 25 years ago looking for a better life.

After 7 years she divorced her first husband and shortly after she married Johnny (56). But happiness did not last long and her daughter died the year after.

Still carrying the heavy burden of her loss Bunta is confronted with a new challenge in her life when she looses three fingers in a work accident. Also for Johnny life changes dramatically, having to dress and nurse his helpless wife as well as dealing with domestic duties and work.

They have been through hard times before, but how much can their relationship endure?

Credits:

Main director

and script writer:

Tale Kristine Skeidsvoll

Co – directors:

Gunhild Asting

Gunhild Westhagen Magnor

Linn Therese Amundsen

Mali Finborud Nøren

Photographers:

Gunhild Westhagen Magnor

Linn Amundsen

Nils Petter Devoll Midttun

Linn Evy Johnsen

Frank Alvegg

Tone Andersen

Mali Finborud Nøren

Tale Kristine Skeidsvoll

Gunhild Asting

Hilde Skofteland

Sound:

Hilde Heyerdahl

Kristoffer Carstens

Post production coordinator:

Julie Syse

Logging:

Stine Heier Straumsheim

Eirik B. Jensen

Erik Snøve

Morten Nyheim Larsen

Hilde K. Kjøs

Karoline Grindaker

Ivan Gasparini

Marit Berntzen

Editors:

Erik Andersson

Reidar W. Ewing

Endre Vestvik

Robert Stengård

Sound editors:

Lydhodene AS

Frode Løes Hvatum

Håkon Lammetun

Anders Mørk

Music:

Musikkforlaget Apollo

Grafic design:

BUG

Torkell Bernsen

Translation:

Poranee Larsen

Sophida Manthong Bønsnes

Onlining:

Njål Henry Lødemel

Special thanks too:

Hugfrid Raaheim

and Vestnes Resurssenter

Production manager

and head of economy:

Siv Kathrine Lemika

Production secretaries:

Gunhild Gjølstad

Mimma Bash

Project manager TVNORGE:

Astri Lundberg

Producer:

Hilde Skofteland

Co – producers:

Norsk Filmfond

v/Bodil Cold Ravnkilde

Pære Produksjon

Institusjonen Fritt ord

Vestnes kommune

Fond For lyd og bilde

TVNORGE

Skofteland Film AS © 2008

POSTED 20.12.07