Wisit Sasanatieng

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Wisit Sasanatieng
Born: April 25, 1964
Bangkok, Thailand
Occupation: Film director, screenwriter

Wisit Sasanatieng (Thai วิศิษฏ์ ศาสนเที่ยง, born April 25, 1964 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a Thai film director and screenwriter. Best known for his colourful debut feature film, Tears of the Black Tiger, he is among a "New Wave" of Thai directors that include Nonzee Nimibutr, Pen-Ek Ratanaruang and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early career

Wisit studied at the Faculty of Decorative Arts at Silpakorn University, where he was a classmate of Nonzee Nimibutr and set designer Ek Lemchuen.

He started out as an art director at the Film Factory, where he worked with Pen-Ek Ratanaraung. Among television commercials directed by Wisit was a colorful commercial for Wrangler Jeans that featured Black Tiger star Chartchai Ngamsuan. Wisit continues to work at Film Factory, making commercials (particularly for the MK Restaurants hot pot chain in Thailand) in order to supplement his income in between making feature films. He also is a cartoonist and illustrator.

Wisit entered the film industry as a screenwriter for two of Nonzee's films, 1997's Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters, set in 1950s Thailand, and the ghost thriller, Nang Nak in 1999. Critically, and at the box office, the films were successes and marked the beginning of a "new wave" movement in the Thai film industry.

The Thai DVD cover for Tears of the Black Tiger.
The Thai DVD cover for Tears of the Black Tiger.

[edit] Debut feature

Wisit's feature-film debut was in 2000 with the colourfully audacious Tears of the Black Tiger, a genre-blending western. With a romantic melodrama at its core, the story involves outlaws, gunfights, horseback riding, comedic bits and big explosions. The film was an homage to an earlier era of Thai film - the contemplative 1950s dramas of pioneering director Rattana Pestonji as well as the "bomb-the-mountains, burn-the-huts" action films of the 1960s that starred Mitr Chaibancha. One of the leading men from the '60s and 1970s Thai action-film era, Sombat Metanee, lent his talents to Tears of the Black Tiger, portraying the outlaw leader, Fai.

Tears of the Black Tiger was the first Thai film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was in the Un Certain Regard program. At the Vancouver International Film Festival in 2000, it won the Dragons & Tigers Award for best new director. Other awards include best art direction at the Gijon Film Festival in 2001 and a jury prize at the Puchon International Film Festival. It was also screened at the 2006 Bangkok International Film Festival as part of a tribute to Sombat Metanee.

US distribution rights for the film were purchased by Miramax Films, which changed the ending and then shelved it indefinitely. In 2006, Magnolia Pictures acquired the US rights to the film with plans to show the original version in US theaters in 2007.

A scene from Citizen Dog shows the blending of old and new styles.
A scene from Citizen Dog shows the blending of old and new styles.

[edit] Second film

Wisit Sasanatieng works with a teddy bear on the set of his 2004 film, Citizen Dog.
Wisit Sasanatieng works with a teddy bear on the set of his 2004 film, Citizen Dog.

Wisit's next project, 2004's Citizen Dog, was a contemporary romantic comedy set in Bankgok that proved to be even more colourful than Tears of the Black Tiger. Based on a novel written by Siripan Techajindawong, Wisit's longtime collaborative partner and wife, and narrated by fellow Thai filmmaker Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Citizen Dog tells the tale of two rural Thais who come to Bangkok to find work and fall in love. Critics have compared it to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie.

Distribution rights outside Asia were purchased by Luc Besson's EuropaCorp., and it has played at several film festivals, including the Berlin Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival and the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival. It screened commercially in France in 2006.

[edit] Next projects

In addition to distributing Citizen Dog, EuropaCorp also has agreed to co-produce a long-gestating project to be directed by Wisit called Nam Prix, which takes its name after red chillis used in Thai cooking. A historical fantasy about Thai pirates, the project began in 1998 as a one-page brief, but was shelved due to financial difficulties.

While Citizen Dog was told in the contemporary style of filmmaking, and Tears of the Black Tiger portrayed an old Thai film style, Wisit says he will endeavour to go back even further with Nam Prix, capturing the tradition of Thai temple painting and bring it to life.

"It will be an antique Thai legend, with very traditional Thai pictures like the old wall painting. But we will animate them," he is quoted as saying on ThaiCinema.org. "We will make them move. It is not an epic, but a folklore in order to tell our roots, our culture." [1]

In March 2006 it was announced that Wisit would direct a Singaporean production called Armful, a revenge tale about a man who loses his arm. A gifted illustrator and comic-book artist, Wisit has produced conceptual poster art for the film, which will be influenced by the martial arts films of the 1960 and '70s, particularly the One-Armed Swordsman films and Master of the Flying Guillotine, which featured Jimmy Wang Yu as a one-armed fighter. [2] Armful is being produced by One Ton Cinema from Singapore and Andy Lau's Focus Films. [3]

In the meantime, Wisit directed a low-budget Thai horror film for Five Star Production called The Unseeable (Thai: เปนชู้กับผี), which completed shooting in August 2006 and is due for release on November 2, 2006.

[edit] Awards

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Chaiworaporn, Anchalee (June 23, 2005) "EuropaCorp to distribute Citizen Dog, co-produce Wisit’s next project", ThaiCinema.org. Retrieved December 28, 2005.
  2. ^ Frater, Patrick (March 2006). "Thai helmer tries on Singapore tale". Variety.
  3. ^ Thai Film News, September 2, 2006. Focus Films joins One Ton Cinema to produce Wisit Sasanatieng’s 'Armful'", ThaiCinema.org (retrieved September 9, 2006).
  4. ^ Nation staff, August 31, 2006. "AWARDS SHOW: Recognising five fine artists", The Nation, Page 12A (print edition only).

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Wisit Sasanatieng

Films: Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) • Mah Nakorn (2005) • The Unseeable (2006) • Nam Prix (in development) • Armful (in development)
Screenplays: Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters (1997) • Nang Nak (1999)

v • d • e
Cinema of Thailand

Actors • Directors • Films A-Z • Chronology of films • Animation • Cinematographers • Producers • Screenwriters •Studios

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