Filmmaker fed up of Thai junta’s creative curbs to shoot in Colombia next
- Apichatpong Weerasethakul, winner of Cannes festival’s Palme d’Or in 2010, decides to make next film, starring Tilda Swinton, in South America
- Creative restrictions of junta-run Thailand to blame
Wearied by the creative constrictions of junta-run Thailand, Palme d’Or-winning director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is making his next feature in Colombia with Tilda Swinton. Some things won’t change, though, such as his preoccupation with ghosts, memory and politics.
Apichatpong, a soft-spoken 48-year-old from rural Thailand, may not leap out as a household name. But he is the figurehead of Thailand’s cinema scene and a doyen of the global art-house circuit, vaunted for his non-linear storytelling, dreamy shooting style and strong – if often subtle – political messaging.
With his home country under military rule since 2014, the filmmaker says he decided not to make the film in Thailand, where political discussion is stifled and he says films can be shut down on the whim of the generals.
To make a movie without addressing the urgent issue of the kingdom’s politics would be to undermine his role as a filmmaker, Apichatpong says.
“I want to talk about politics, our reality, our lives,” he said this week ahead of an awards event on November 19 in Nakhon Pathom, outside Bangkok.