Directing

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Born July 16, 1970 · Bangkok, Thailand (age 56)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Blissfully Yours, which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2002 Ca…

Known For

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives · 2010

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

MovieDramaFantasy

Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave—the birthplace of his first life.

Uncertain Path

Uncertain Path · 2021

MovieDocumentary

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira y and the film's director, with their own personal views, share that thin line that links life with cinema.

Memoria

Memoria · 2021

MovieDramaScience Fiction

After hearing a loud ‘bang’ at daybreak, a Scottish woman begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing the jungles of Colombia.

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

Venice 70: Future Reloaded · 2013

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

MovieDramaDocumentary

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing · 2019

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

MovieComedyScience Fiction

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

Vapour

The clouds descend onto a village and engulf it for a day. They touch the roof tiles, the beds, the chairs, the carpets, the grass, and the bodies, infecting everything with the fever of white stupor.

Sakda (Rousseau)

Sakda (Rousseau) · 2012

Sakda (Rousseau)

Created in celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this short essay centres on a monologue delivered by a reincarnation of the philosopher in twenty-first century Thailand.

Cemetery of Splendor

Cemetery of Splendor · 2015

Cemetery of Splendor

MovieDramaFantasy

In a hospital, ten soldiers are being treated for a mysterious sleeping sickness. In a story in which dreams can be experienced by others, and in which goddesses can sit casually with mortals, a nurse learns the reason why the patients will never be cured, and forms a telepathic bond with one of them.

Filmography

Sort

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives · 2010

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

MovieDramaFantasy

Suffering from acute kidney failure, Boonmee has chosen to spend his final days surrounded by his loved ones in the countryside. Surprisingly, the ghost of his deceased wife appears to care for him, and his long lost son returns home in a non-human form. Contemplating the reasons for his illness, Boonmee treks through the jungle with his family to a mysterious hilltop cave—the birthplace of his first life.

Director

Uncertain Path

Uncertain Path · 2021

MovieDocumentary

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pedro Costa, Manoel de Oliveira y and the film's director, with their own personal views, share that thin line that links life with cinema.

Memoria

Memoria · 2021

MovieDramaScience Fiction

After hearing a loud ‘bang’ at daybreak, a Scottish woman begins experiencing a mysterious sensory syndrome while traversing the jungles of Colombia.

Producer

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

Venice 70: Future Reloaded · 2013

Venice 70: Future Reloaded

MovieDramaDocumentary

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

Director

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing · 2019

30/30 Vision: Three Decades of Strand Releasing

MovieComedyScience Fiction

Over 30 filmmakers and friends of Strand Releasing have come together to honor the company’s indelible contribution to independent cinema over the past thirty years. The participating filmmakers have each created a short film for the project, all shot on iPhones.

Director

Vapour

The clouds descend onto a village and engulf it for a day. They touch the roof tiles, the beds, the chairs, the carpets, the grass, and the bodies, infecting everything with the fever of white stupor.

Editor

Sakda (Rousseau)

Sakda (Rousseau) · 2012

Sakda (Rousseau)

Created in celebration of the three-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, this short essay centres on a monologue delivered by a reincarnation of the philosopher in twenty-first century Thailand.

Director

Cemetery of Splendor

Cemetery of Splendor · 2015

Cemetery of Splendor

MovieDramaFantasy

In a hospital, ten soldiers are being treated for a mysterious sleeping sickness. In a story in which dreams can be experienced by others, and in which goddesses can sit casually with mortals, a nurse learns the reason why the patients will never be cured, and forms a telepathic bond with one of them.

Director

The Cowboy

The Cowboy · 2024

MovieDramaWestern

The arrival of a stray horse triggers a series of events in Bernicia’s life that alters her world as she slowly takes on the persona of a cowboy. Through her journey, she must overcome several obstacles that threaten her newfound desires.

Thanks

Tropical Malady

Tropical Malady · 2004

Tropical Malady

MovieDramaRomance

The passionate relationship between two men with unusual consequences. The film is divided in two parts. The first half charts the modest attraction between two men in the sunny, relaxing countryside and the second half charts the confusion and terror of an unknown menace lurking deep within the jungle shadows.

Director

Blissfully Yours

Blissfully Yours · 2002

Blissfully Yours

MovieDramaRomance

In Thailand, an illegal immigrant from Myanmar with a mysterious skin rash, his girlfriend, and her friend visit the doctor's before spending the afternoon on individual and collective adventures.

Director

The Parrot

The Parrot · 2016

MovieThrillerDrama

A stranger arrives in Sarajevo and barges into Damir's reclusive world. Little by little she takes over his life. She absorbs his dreams, until finally she threaten his very existence.

Thanks

Luminous People

Luminous People · 2007

Luminous People

MovieDocumentary

A recreation of an event to commemorate the presence of the dead and the decayed memories of the living, of filmmaking

Director

Jenjira's Magnificent Dream

Jenjira's Magnificent Dream

Jenjira's Magnificent Dream

MovieDramaScience Fiction

Jenjira, a Thai widow, travels to the ancient Buddhist temple Sigiriya in Sri Lanka to scatter her husband’s ashes. As her visions blur time and space, she is swept into a journey through across dimensions.

Screenplay

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

The Year of the Everlasting Storm · 2021

The Year of the Everlasting Storm

MovieDramaMystery

Featuring seven stories from seven auteurs from around the world, the film chronicles this unprecedented moment in time, and is a true love letter to the power of cinema and its storytellers.

Director

A Flower of Forgetfulness

A Flower of Forgetfulness · 2026

A Flower of Forgetfulness

Director

20 Little Films

20 Little Films · 2012

20 Little Films

MovieDocumentary

Since 1995, the Viennale has invited renowned directors to create short, one-minute films as personal contributions to the festival. Ranging from home movies to political essays, musical sketches to abstract studies, these “little films” form a unique anthology of cinematic moments. 20 Little Films collects a selection of these works, premiering together for the Viennale’s 50th anniversary at the Locarno Film Festival.

Director

Reincarnate

Reincarnate · 2010

A teacher and his student go on a trip to a magical island where there is urban life and tourist attractions as well as a palace and temples. Moreover, a haunting past still gnaws, spreads, mates and mutates in a loop that cannot be eliminated. It dissolves and mixes with memories affecting the present and possessing a power that can destroy the future. In this vague atmosphere, the place slowly becomes deserted like a nightmare you want to wake from but cannot resist

Producer

Quattro Hong Kong 2

Quattro Hong Kong 2 · 2011

Quattro Hong Kong 2

Four short tales set in contemporary Hong Kong.

Director

async - first light

async - first light · 2017

async - first light

A collaboration between Apichatpong and Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto from his album “async”. The people falling asleep in this film are all his friends, he sent cameras to friends and asked them to shoot. Apichatpong often carries Digital Harinezumi camera with him, and completing a lot of works with this camera. This work was first exhibited at the WATARI Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo (Japan, 2017).

Director

3.11 A Sense of Home Films

3.11 A Sense of Home Films · 2011

3.11 A Sense of Home Films

MovieAnimationDrama

In memory of the Japanese earthquake on 3.11, each director presents a 3 minute and 11 second short film in tribute to those who were lost that day.

Director

Ten Years Thailand

Ten Years Thailand · 2018

Ten Years Thailand

A collection of short films by five Thai directors imagining their country ten years into the future.

Screenplay

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

Hale County This Morning, This Evening · 2018

Hale County This Morning, This Evening

MovieDocumentary

Composed of intimate and unencumbered moments of people in a community, this film is constructed in a form that allows the viewer an emotive impression of the Historic South - trumpeting the beauty of life and consequences of the social construction of race, while simultaneously a testament to dreaming.

Creative Consultant

Concrete Clouds

Concrete Clouds · 2013

Concrete Clouds

Amidst the post-economic crash, a man must return from abroad after his father committed suicide. After return home, he must confront his past and struggle to hold on to his present.

Producer