Red Carpet: Pen-ek Ratanaruang
On Sunday evening, we are meeting with one of the most interesting Thai filmmakers, whose films have been a part of Five Flavours program almost since the beginning of the Festival.
Pen-ek Ratanaruang was born in 1962 in Bangkok. He graduated from the department of Art History at the New York Pratt Institute, where he started off as a freelance illustrator and designer. After returning to Bangkok, he spent five years working as the Artistic Director in a renown ad agency Leo Burnett. He shot a number of successful, award-winning commercials. In 1993, he began working for Film Factory in Bangkok, where he met Wisit Sasanatieng. Both directors are currently considered as the most prominent filmmakers of the Thai new wave.
His first internationally acclaimed film was "6IXTYNIN9" (1999) – the Thai Oscars submission for Best Foreign Language Film. His later films, especially "Last Life in the Universe," "Ploy," and "Nymph," gained recognition at international festivals – "Nymph" premiered at Cannes IFF.
The director is considered to be one of the pillars of the success of the Thai New Wave. He seamlessly combines his fascination with pop culture and auteur style, playing with the conventions of local cinema, mixing them with a philosophical reflection and subversive narrations.
The filmmaker's retrospective was presented at the 3rd edition of the Festival, and one of his last productions, "Samui Song," was distributed in Poland by Five Flavours. "Foodlore: The Caterer" presented in this year's program, is a direct reference to the horror "Folklore: POB," which premiered during the 12th Five Flavours and is now available on HBO GO in Poland.
