How to Win at Checkers (Every Time) / P'Chai My Hero

The Army draft lottery is a threat looming over the heads of all young Thai men. Even the eleven-year-old Oat fears the approaching lottery drawing, because his beloved older brother, Ek, could be recruited. Ek struggles in the underworld of nightclubs and powerful mafia on his own, unlike his boyfriend Jai, whose influential family feels at home in the everyday reality of omnipresent corruption. The army lottery casts a shadow over the enamored couple, and because little Oat would love to keep enjoying rides on Ek's motorcycle and losing at checkers to him, he attempts to solve the situation on his own to preserve this fragile idyllic childhood. Gentle humour and bittersweet nostalgia meet in this story about the end of one childhood. Josh Kim's romantically touching film debut, based on a Thai bestselling novel, is Thailand's representative for Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film this year.