Born in 1970 in BANGKOK (THAiLAND)
Lives and works in BANGKOK and CHIANG MAi (THAiLAND)

Apichatpong Weerasethakul was born in 1970 in Bangkok and grew up in the city of Khon Kaen, in northeastern Thailand. Independently of Thailand’s commercial film industry, he strove to promote experimental and independent cinema through his production company Kick the Machine, which he founded in 1999. With his friend Gridthiya Gaweewong, he founded the experimental film festival of Bangkok in 1997, which he presented three times, up until 2008. He lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

His work has largely been presented in international artistic and cinematographic contexts, notably at the Venice Biennial ( 2019), Sharjah Biennial in the United Arab Emirates (2013), dOCUMENTA 13 in Kassel (2012), the Liverpool Biennial (2006), the Busan Biennial (2004), and the Istanbul Biennial (2001), as well as in the context of individual and collective exhibitions in art centres such as the Haus der Kunst in Munich, Germany; the Walker Art Center of Minneapolis; the New Museum in New York; the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin; and the Musée d’art moderne de la Ville de Paris.

In 2009, Weerasethakul’s film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, won the Palme d’or at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. His other feature films, earning considerable acclaim in France, are Cemetery of Splendour (2015), Syndromes and a Century (2006), Tropical Malady (2004), The Adventures of Iron Pussy (2003), Blissfully Yours (2002)
and Mysterious Object at Noon (2000). His most recent feature film, Memoria (2021) was awarded the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2021. He also presented The Year of the Everlasting Storm, a set of shorts co-directed with other filmmakers and shown in a special session.