Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong Weerasethakul (born 1970) is a Thai independent filmmaker, screenwriter, and artist whose dreamlike, slow-tempo work has made him one of the most distinctive voices in world cinema. Raised in Khon Kaen in rural northeastern Thailand, he studied architecture at Khon Kaen University before earning an MFA in filmmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He co-founded the production company Kick the Machine in 1999, and his early features — Mysterious Object at Noon, Blissfully Yours (Un Certain Regard at Cannes, 2002), and Tropical Malady (Jury Prize, 2004) — established his interest in jungle landscapes, sexuality, memory, and the supernatural. In 2010 he became the first Thai director to win the Palme d'Or, for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, about a dying man visited by his late wife's ghost and his missing son in monkey-spirit form.