Nonzee Nimibutr (, ; Born: 18 December 1962) is a Thai

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, film producer and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

. Best known for his ghost thriller, '' Nang Nak'', he is generally credited as the leader among a " New Wave" of Thai filmmakers that also includes Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Wisit Sasanatieng and

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Apichatpong Weerasethakul (; ; , born 16 July 1970) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, film producer and Professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Apichatpong h ...

Biography

Education

Nonzee is a relative of Lieutenant General Phachoen Nimitbutr (เผชิญ นิมิบุตร), Director of the Signal Department of the

Royal Thai Army The Royal Thai Army or RTA (; ) is the army of Thailand and the oldest and largest branch of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. History Origin The Royal Thai Army is responsible for protecting the kingdom's sovereignty. The army was formed in 187 ...

and the founder of Thailand's first television station, Army TV Channel 5. Nonzee graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in visual communication design from the Faculty of Decorative Arts at Silpakorn University in 1987. Classmates included Wisit Sasanatieng and production designer Ek Iemchuen. He started his career as a director of

television commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

and

music videos A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

First films

He made his feature-film debut with 1997's '' Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters'', with a screenplay by Wisit Sasanatieng. The story was set in 1956 in Bangkok and follows the adventures of a gang of young criminals, with the action showing the influence of

John Woo John Woo Yu-sen ( zh, t= ; born 22 September 1946) is a Hongkongers, Hong Kong film director known as a highly influential figure in the action film genre. The recipient of various accolades, including a Hong Kong Film Awards, Hong Kong Film Award ...

films. It was named best picture at the Thailand National Film Awards and was nominated for a

Dragons and Tigers Award VIFF Dragons and Tigers Award for Young Cinema was an award from the Vancouver International Film Festival for a film director from the Asia-Pacific region. Presented to a film judged as the best film by an emerging director within the festival's D ...

at the

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Festi ...

. His next film was ''Nang Nak'', a thriller based on a popular Thai ghost story, also scripted by Wisit. A famous ghost story that has been depicted in many Thai films and television series, the story is about a husband comes home from war and takes up living with his wife and newborn son who, unbeknownst to him, have died while he was away. The moodily framed

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

won numerous awards, including best picture at the Thailand National Film Awards. Both ''Young Gangsters'' and ''Nang Nak'' were hits at the box office and were credited with reinvigorating the Thai film industry.

Pan-Asian production

With his third film, '' Jan Dara'', Nonzee began a trend of pan-Asian film production in the Thai industry, bringing in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

actress Christy Chung to star in the erotic drama. He also sought funding from studios outside Thailand. Ahead of its release, ''Jan Dara'' was controversial because its sexual subject matter, involving

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

, tested the bounds of Thailand's 1930 Censorship Code. The film was released with the board's cuts for the film's commercial run in Thailand, but it was available uncut for film festivals. Nonzee also became quite active as a producer, putting his name on such films as '' Bangkok Dangerous'' by the Pang Brothers; '' Tears of the Black Tiger'' by Wisit Sasanatieng; the historical battle epic, '' Bangrajan'' by Thanit Jitnukul and Pen-Ek Ratanaruang's '' Monrak Transistor''. He co-founded his own production company, Cinemasia, with his production partner, Duangkamol Limcharoen. She died in 2003. Continuing on his path of pan-Asian production, Nonzee initiated the horror trilogy, ''

Three 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

'', in which he and two other directors, Hong Kong's

Peter Chan Peter Ho-sun Chan (born 28 November 1962), also known as Peter Chan, is a Hong Kong-born filmmaker best known for directing films that span a wide range of genres, including romantic comedies, musical dramas, and historical epics. He is r ...

and Korean director Kim Ji-Woon, each directed a segment.

Recent work

While keeping busy as a producer, he directed 2003's '' OK Baytong'', a topical, contemporary drama about a young man who must leave the

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monkhood and go to

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

-dominated

southern Thailand Southern Thailand (formerly Southern Siam and Tambralinga) is the southernmost cultural region of Thailand, separated from Central Thailand by the Kra Isthmus. Geography Southern Thailand is on the Malay Peninsula, with an area of around , bo ...

to attend to the affairs of his sister, who was killed in a train bombing. In 2005, he directed a short film, ''The Ceiling'' for the Asian Film Academy, in conjunction with the Pusan International Film Festival. The 18-minute,

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

film starring South Korean actors is the story of a young writer who climbs into the crawlspace above her apartment and spies on the woman living next door. His next film, '' Queens of Langkasuka'', is an epic historical-fantasy involving pirates and three princesses who must protect their realm, Langkasuka. The film was originally to be called ''Queens of Pattani'', but the name was changed to avoid possible political overtones stemming from the

South Thailand insurgency The Southern Thailand Insurgency (; ) is an ongoing conflict centered in southern Thailand. It originated in 1948 as an ethnic and religious separatist insurgency in the historical Malays (ethnic group), Malay Patani (historical region), Patani ...

and Pattani separatism. Shooting began in August 2006. The film stars Jarunee Suksawat, Ananda Everingham from '' Shutter'', Dan Chupong from '' Kerd ma lui'', Jesdaporn Pholdee, Winai Kraibutr and Sorapong Chatree. Another film mentioned as being in development by Nonzee is a ghost thriller, '' Toyol'', a Singaporean co-production about a pair of Hong Kong children who move with their father to Bangkok and are introduced to a stepmother they do not like, in a house that has some problems, namely, the toyol. He has also produced '' Noo Hin: The Movie'', a live-action adaptation of the popular Thai

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

(or

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

) by Padung Kraisri, about a plucky

Isan Northeast Thailand or Isan (Isan language, Isan/, ; ; also written as Isaan, Isarn, Issarn, Issan, Esan, or Esarn; from Pāli ''isāna'' or Sanskrit ईशान्य ''īśānya'' "northeast") consists of 20 provinces in northeastern Thai ...

woman who works as a maid in a

middle class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. C ...

urban Thai home.Book Talk (February 17, 2005
"Maid in Thailand"
, ''The Nation''. Retrieved December 29, 2005. In 2008, Nonzee became the fifth filmmaker to be honored with the Thailand Culture Ministry's Silpathorn Award, an honor previously bestowed on Pen-ek Ratanaruang,

, Wisit Sasanatieng and Thunska Pansittivorakul.

Filmography

Director

* '' Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters'' (''2499 Antapan Krong Muang'') (

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

) * '' Nang Nak'' (

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

) * '' Jan Dara'' (

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

) * ''

'', segment ''San Geng'' (''The Wheel'') (

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

) * '' OK Baytong'' (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

) * ''The Ceiling'' (

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

) (short film) * '' Queens of Langkasuka'' (

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

) * ''Distortion'' (

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

) * ''Timeline'' 2015 * ''The Gift'' 2017 * '' Once Upon A Star'' (

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

) ( Netflix film)

Producer

* '' Bangkok Dangerous'' (

) * '' Tears of the Black Tiger'' (''Fah Talai Jone'') (

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

) (producer) * '' Bang Rajan'' (

) * '' Jan Dara'' (

) * '' Monrak Transistor'' (''Transistor Love Story'') (

) * ''

'', segment ''San Geng'' (''The Wheel'') (

) * '' Last Life in the Universe'' (''Ruang Rak Noi Nid Mahasan'' (

) * '' The Letter'' (''Jod Mai Rak'') (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

) * '' The Overture'' (''Hom Rong'') (

) * '' The Eye 2'' (''Jian Gui 2'' (

) * '' Noo Hin: The Movie'' (2006) * '' Queen of Langkasuka'' (

) * ''Pro May'' (''Atchariyah Tong Sang)'' (

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

) * ''

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

'' (''Kuen Yuttitum'') (

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

) * '' The Cursed Land'' (''Dan Sap'') (

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

)

References

* Interview (2001)
"Nonzee Nimibutr - Interview"
''Movieseer''. Retrieved December 29, 2005.

Notes

External links

Cinemasia
– Nonzee Nimibutr's production company *
Nonzee Nimibutr
at th
Thai Film Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimibutr, Nonzee 1962 births Living people Nonzee Nimibutr Nonzee Nimibutr Nonzee Nimibutr Nonzee Nimibutr Nonzee Nimibutr Nonzee Nimibutr