Famous Thai film directors are listed below, alphabetically and when images are available. Over the years, Thailand has produced numerous outstanding film directors, many of whom went on to make well-liked comedies, dramas, horror films, and other types of films. If you are a native of Thailand and aspire to become a filmmaker, you should look up to some of the greatest Thai directors in the history of the globe.
1. Aditya Assarat
Aditya Assarat, a Thai filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and cinematographer, is self-employed. Aditya Assarat was born there. He arrived in the country at the age of 15 to further his education. While attending New York University to study history, he became interested in filmmaking. Later, in 2000, he received his master's degree in film production from the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts.
2. Anocha Suwichakornpong
She is a guest lecturer at Harvard University's department of art, film, and visual studies. At places like the Museum of the Moving Image in New York, the TIFF Cinematheque in Toronto, the Cinema Moderne in Montreal, and Olhar De Cinema in Brazil, among others, her films have been the subject of retrospectives.
3. Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Apichatpong has directed several movies and a large number of short films while working outside the rigid restrictions of the Thai film studio system. His friends and fans would occasionally refer to him as "Joe" (a nickname that he, like many with similarly long Thai names, has adopted out of convenience). Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, one of his feature-length films, won the Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
4. Areeya Chumsai
Areeya Chumsai was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the daughter of immigrants from Thailand. She was reared in Michigan, where she later attended Michigan State University and graduated with a journalism degree in 1993.
5. Bangjong Pisanthanakun
His first two movies, Shutter (2004) and Alone (2007), both horror movies that he co-wrote and co-directed with Parkpoom Wongpoom, were commercial successes. He also directed the 2021 horror film The Medium, which was a commercial and critical success in South Korea, as well as the 2013 comedic horror romance Pee Mak, which went on to become Thailand's all-time best-grossing movie.
6. Bhandit Rittakol
Award-winning Thai film director, producer, and screenwriter Bhandit Rittakol. His works include The Moonhunter, a contentious biopic of Thai communist revolutionary Seksan Prasertkul, the suspenseful jungle drama Tigress of King River, and The Seed, a semi-documentary about drought-stricken Isan farmers who are helped by King Bhumibol Adulyadej-sponsored cloud seeding programs.
7. Prince Chatrichalerm Yukol
Since the 1970s, he has produced numerous movies, including the historical epic The Legend of Suriyothai in 2001. His official royal title as a member of the Thai royal family is Mom Chao, or M.C., which is the most junior title that is nonetheless regarded as royalty. Queen Sirikit supported Chatrichalerm's writing of King Naresuan, his historical epic from 2007, as well as Suriyothai. Thailand has nominated four of his movies for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film: Keeping the Elephants, Song for Chao Phya.
8. Cherd Songsri
The 1977 love drama Plae Kao (The Scar), which earned more at the box office than any other Thai film before it, is his best-known work. He was a period filmmaker who wanted to share his vision of Thai culture with global viewers. It received a prize at the Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France, in 1981. Cherd was born in the Nakhon Si Thammarat province. He received instruction in making the animal-skin-based shadow puppets known as nang talung.
9. Chookiat Sakveerakul
The Passenger of Li, an independent ensemble drama, was Chookiat's debut full-length motion picture. His subsequent movie was the 2004 horror picture Pisaj, which was made by Sahamongkol Film International. Chookiat's second film, 13 Beloved, a grim drama about a fatal underground reality television show, received positive reviews and won several accolades in Thailand and at film festivals.
10. Ekachai Uekrongtham
One of his theatre productions is Chang & Eng, a musical based on the first "Siamese twins," Chang and Eng Bunker. His other theatrical productions include Confessions of Three Single Women, Ka-Ra-you-OK?, Viva Viagra!, Autumn Tomyam, and Mail Order Brides & Other Oriental Takeaways. With Beautiful Boxer, a biographical drama about transsexual professional Muay Thai boxer Nong Thoom, he made his debut as a feature film director in 2003.
