Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s fifth feature portrays the interconnected themes of love, time, and memory with delicate precision. The film is structured in two parts: the first is set in a rural clinic, and the second in an urban Bangkok hospital. Across both settings, it follows the quotidian lives and conversations of Doctors Toey and Nohng—played by the same actors—as if they are moving through resonant yet separate contexts. While some moments repeat like motifs, others evoke nearly forgotten or reimagined memories—a home, leaves swaying in the breeze, a monk’s reference to past lives, or the curve of an eyebrow as someone holds another’s gaze.

A sensorial tribute to Weerasethakul’s parents, both of whom were doctors, Syndromes and a Century defies a simple narrative, opening space for us to yearn, to remember, and to dream. It is one of the most radiant explorations of cinema’s possibility.

This work is commissioned by theatre director Peter Sellars for the New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna, a celebration of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth.

Originally trained as an architect, Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970, Thailand) began making short films and videos in 1994. His work has contributed immensely to the visibility of moving image practices in Southeast Asia in its evocation of traditions, beliefs, and multifaceted depictions of place. His cinematic style fuses documentary with fiction, drawing on folklore and fables that resonate across political and social contexts. Weerasethakul’s interest in the shifting nature of image-making bridges his practices in visual art, moving image, and cinema. A core part of his Primitive project, his feature film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Alongside dozens of short films and installations, Weersathakul has directed acclaimed feature films such as Tropical Malady (2004), Cemetery of Splendour (2015), and Memoria (2021).