Shot over eight years on every active line of the Thai railway system, Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s transfixing debut seamlessly collapses its footage to simulate a two-day, two-night journey through the country. Gently and gracefully, the camera eavesdrops on its subjects, cherishing the small and sublime: an exhausted body leaning against a rattling compartment; young children hunched over homework assignments; a passenger stunned by the landscape, wind blowing through his hair, light streaming on his face. The richly textured sound design is equally transporting. As Railway Sleepers miraculously shifts our sense of time, it presents a class-conscious survey of the nation.(CB)