Influenced by exquisite corpse drawings he discovered while studying film at the Art Institute of Chicago, Apichatpong Weerasethakul's first feature film explores a concept of multiple, sequential contributors. Shot in his native Thailand over a three-year period and released in 2000, the 85-minute black-and-white film strings stories from different narrators into a surreal tale. The movie begins with a young woman recalling the tragedy of being sold as a child. Asked if she has any other stories — real or fictional — she begins a story of a boy in a wheelchair and his teacher. This recurring narrative becomes woven into a documentary road picture of rural Thailand, where the villagers share other fictions that add to the film's sublime structure.

Thirteen Apichatpong Weerasethakul films — including the acclaimed Tropical Malady and Syndromes and a Century, his latest — are being screened at the Fifth Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, Australia through May 27.