I have two nationalities. I consider myself both Thai and American. My mother is American and my father is Thai. I grew up here until I was 15, then went to study in New York. I came back to Thailand when I was almost 30.
I wasn’t very interested in what I was studying. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so I picked history because it seemed like the easiest thing. I studied just to get a degree.
I started going to movies instead of going to classes. I had watched a lot of movies, ever since I was young, but, in New York, it was the first time that I watched films with a different kind of mindset. Not just watching a film for entertainment. I gradually began to be interested in becoming a filmmaker.
Short films are a way to practice. Every filmmaker starts with shorts because, it’s cheaper and also because you don’t really know what you are doing. You are just a beginner. It’s better to keep the project short so it’s something you can handle.
You have to start making new things and accepting new perspectives. If you keep making the same thing then after a while it will get boring and the audiences will lose interest.
You have to be the final judge of your own work. It’s always nice to win awards. But at the end of the day, as a filmmaker, you have to be able to be objective about your work.
The only person who really knows the film is a success or a failure is you. You are the only person who knows what you have in mind and what you are trying to say.
I’m working on a short film for a project called Charming Bangkok. It has been commissioned by Thai PBS TV station. They invited nine directors including Khun Pen-Ek [Ratanaruang, Ploy], Wisit [Sasanatieng, Citizen Dog], Kongdej [Jaturanrasamee, Kod] and Chookiat [Sakveerakul, Love of Siam], to make a short film, presenting their perspectives of Bangkok. It should be aired later this month.
Mine is about dek nok kids, like me, who go to school abroad, come back to Thailand and experience a bit of a culture shock.
It’s interesting to look at how the identity of Thai people is changing. Fifty years ago, if you were Thai, it was simple. It meant you grew up in Thailand. You spoke Thai. But now a lot of kids grow up within a Western culture. They speak English and don’t actually speak Thai very well. They listen to hip hop. They’re still Thai, but they don’t know anything about Thailand at all.
A film is there not to judge, but to ask questions. As a filmmaker, you want to
create something that people can argue about and inspire people to start to look at the society and the culture in a more critical way.
There are millions of problems in Bangkok. Like, it takes a long time to do anything that has to do with bureaucracy. And how come the police are so inefficient and corrupt?
I have become more accepting of the way things are here. Of course, when I first came back, there were many things about Bangkok that I was not used to. But after a while, if you want to live here, you have to come to accept that it’s the way it is and that a lot of things are not going to change, or won’t change that quickly. You have to change and find a way to fit in.
Bangkok is not perfect but then again, the USA is not perfect either.
My next feature film is called Hi-Society. It’s very similar to the short film I did for Charming Bangkok. It’s a romantic drama about culture clashes. I’m shooting it at the end of this year.
It’s important that you get along with your crew. They are like a family. Even if the job is not very interesting, sometimes it doesn’t really matter because working with the family is something that I always enjoy.
I like to work and I’m always working. If I’m not working, it means something is wrong.
My biggest challenge now is balancing being selfish and selfless. I have two jobs and they are the complete opposite of each other. My first job is a film director. Being an independent filmmaker is almost like being an artist. You only have to take care of yourself. However, my other job is a managing director of a company [Pop Pictures]. You have to think about the well-being of a company and your employees and try to make as much money as possible. It’s a question of managing my time between the two.
I’m very lucky that I can create freedom for myself.
The nicest time of the day is when I get to swim. It’s the only time I get to exercise and be by myself.
