9 TEMPLES TO HEAVEN, 2026

Thailand | DCP, Color, 140' | Thai, English
Director: Sompot Chidgasornpongse
Cast: Yada Karnjanisakorn, Sompop Songkampol

When sixty-three-year-old Sakol learns from a prophecy that his mother does not have long to live, he decides the family must visit nine temples in a single day to extend her life and earn merit. The nine-member family piles into two minibuses and sets off on this spiritual journey from sunrise to sunset, while generational differences in faith and old resentments gradually surface. But when the mother at the heart of the journey grows tired and stops entering the temples, the rest of the family is forced to question the meaning of the ritual, and what it would mean to carry on or not. Making its world premiere in the “Directors’ Fortnight” section at Cannes, this debut feature brings together the road movie, family drama, and comedy. It observes with subtlety how Buddhism is experienced by different generations, as a philosophy of life or as a form of consolation.

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