Mekong Hotel (2012)

It’s the first in a series I am focusing on now. My next project will be about the Mekong River, so my plan is to make a series of hotel portraits in the region. I want to introduce the idea of communication and to look at what we can show in the gallery and what we can show in the cinema. That’s what I’m interested in—the line between film and visual art.

How much of your films are expected to be left to the audiences’ own interpretation?

A lot. When I started out there was a quite a lot of confusion, but over the years I found less and less perplexed feedback—people started to get used to my work. It’s building a relationship with the audience—people see the familiarity of certain images and themes—but I think it takes time.

Reincarnation is a recurring theme in your films.

Yes, and it’s linked to the idea of the myths in Thailand and how I use them from my childhood memories and integrate them into my life now to reflect the environment I’m living in. In Thailand we have these seemingly contrasting elements: ancient beliefs while at the same time we try to move ahead to catch up with the West. These two extremes co-exist very well.

How will current events in Thailand find their way into your films?

Lately I have been trying to integrate that into my work, because normally I am very focused on the personal side. But now politics have become personal. For the past five years it’s so intense—everyone gets involved and feels that it has become their life. I hope my next film is going to be more contemporary and related to current events. It’s a complex situation—how we’ve been broken apart by key institutions and also the idea of propaganda that laid the people in two different camps.

How did your time as a student at the Art Institute of Chicago influence your work?

It affected me more as a person. I looked at Thailand in a different way—with different eyes— because I discovered that I didn’t have much freedom back home. I learned that cinema can have a big effect on society. More than 10 years ago, society and the education system were very conservative, and now it is even more extreme in terms of nationalists. So for me to look at Thailand from the outside is a treasure.