- Born
- Nickname
- Joe
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970, Bangkok) grew up in Khon Kaen, a city in the north east of Thailand. He has a degree in Architecture from Khon Kaen University and a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has been making films and videos since the early 90s. He is one of the few filmmakers in Thailand who have worked outside the strict Thai studio system. In his films, he experiments with certain elements found in the dramatic plot structure of Thai television and radio programs, comics and old films. He finds his inspiration in small towns around the country. In his work, he often uses non-professional actors and improvised dialogue in exploring the shifting boundaries between documentary and fiction.
In 2000, he completed his first feature, Mysterious Object at Noon (2000), a documentary that has been screened at many international festivals and received enthusiastic reviews and awards as well as being listed among the best films of the year 2000 by Film Comment and the Village Voice. He is active in promoting experimental and independent films through Kick the Machine, the company he founded in 1999. He is currently working on several video projects and a new feature, Tropical Malady.- IMDb mini biography by: Anonymous
- ParentsSuwat WeerasethakulArun Weerasethakul
- The opening credits always come in several minutes into the film
- Films are usually in two parts of parallels and contrasts
- Listed Rehearsals for Extinct Anatomies (1988), Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003), The Puppetmaster (1993), The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), Empire (1964), The Chess Players (1977), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Quick Billy (1971), Rose Hobart (1936) and Le nez (1963) as the 10 Greatest Films of All Time in the 2022 Sight & Sound Directors' Poll.
- Worked as an architect and multi-media artist before becoming a filmmaker.
- Both his parents were doctors. They had a practice in Khon Khaen.
- Received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997.
- Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.
- I was very shy, so I didn't really interact well with others. My friends were the kids of doctors, because we all lived in the hospital housing unit. Even now I like hospitals - that sterilised smell, it brings back all these memories. I'd see a lot of sick and dying people, but at the time, I didn't have a big philosophical way of thinking about illness and death. To me, it was just people - they come and go.
- When Blissfully Yours (2002) won a prize at Cannes, a studio got interested and bought the distribution rights, but they didn't understand this kind of film; they opened it in huge multiplexes, and people expected big entertainment. So my film really disappointed people.
- Architecture taught me how to look at things and how to accommodate people in certain spaces. People experience space, beauty, in true time, and film is also like journeying through time.
- Film is like a drug. It is a shelter when you cannot deal with reality.
- [on the success of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)] I liked it because there were so many personal references, but I didn't think they could translate to the audience. Some of my other films I can understand why they got a reaction because there are certain things in them cinematically; but Uncle Boonmee, it's such a strange one.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content