Yongyoot Thongkongtoon ( th, ยงยุทธ ทองกองทุน; born February 18, 1967) is a Thai
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...
screenwriter
A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based.
...
Chulalongkorn University
Chulalongkorn University (CU, th, จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย, ), nicknamed Chula ( th, จุฬาฯ), is a public and autonomous research university in Bangkok, Thailand. The university was originally fo ...
, with a bachelor's degree in Communication Arts (Broadcasting), in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
.
His debut feature in 2000 was '' The Iron Ladies'', a fact-based sports comedy about a
volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...
transgender
A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...
men. The film won several awards in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...
and at film festivals, including the
Thailand National Film Association Awards
The Suphannahong National Film Awards ( th, รางวัลภาพยนตร์แห่งชาติ สุพรรณหงส์, also known as the Thailand National Film Association Awards) is the primary film award of the Thai film ...
and a special mention
Teddy Award
The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival (the Berlinale). In the most part, the jury consists of organisers of gay ...
at the 2001
Berlin Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the fest ...
. Yongyoot also directed the sequel, '' The Iron Ladies 2'', in 2003.
In 2004, he directed ''
Maid
A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...
maid
A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...
s are recruited for a top-secret government intelligence agency. It was his first release under the new studio GTH, formed by the merger of
GMM Grammy
GMM Grammy Public Company Limited ( th, จีเอ็มเอ็ม แกรมมี่ or G"MM' Grammy) is the largest media conglomerate entertainment company in Thailand. Grammy top artists include Bird Thongchai, Silly Fools, Loso, ...
's GMM Pictures, producer Visute Poolvoralaks' Tai Entertainment and producer-director
Jira Maligool
Jira Maligool ( th, จิระ มะลิกุล; ; born 1961) is a Thai film director, screenwriter and producer. He has directed three films, ''Mekhong Full Moon Party'', ''The Tin Mine'' and ''Seven Something'' (part 42.195), and was th ...
's Hub Ho Hin production company.
This was followed by the 2006 romantic comedy-drama ''
Metrosexual
''Metrosexual'' is a portmanteau of ''metropolitan'' and '' sexual'' coined in 1994, describing a man of ambiguous sexuality, (especially one living in an urban, post-industrial, capitalist culture) who is especially meticulous about his groomi ...
'', about a group of women trying to figure out if the fiancé of one of their friends is a closeted gay.
In 2008, he took a change in direction away from comedy to direct a segment of the horror
portmanteau
A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words4bia''. The film, also featuring segments by Paween Purijitpanya,
Banjong Pisanthanakun
Bangjong Pisanthanakun ( th, บรรจง ปิสัญธนะกูล) is a Thai filmmaker and screenwriter. He saw early success with his first two films, '' Shutter'' (2004) and '' Alone'' (2007), both horror films that he co-directed ...
and
Parkpoom Wongpoom
Parkpoom Wongpoom ( th, ภาคภูมิ วงศ์ภูมิ) (born 1978) is a Thai filmmaker and screenwriter. With Banjong Pisanthanakun, he co-directed and co-wrote the hit 2004 Thai horror film, '' Shutter'', and the 2007 horror fil ...
, won the bronze audience award at the 2008
Fantasia Festival
Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...
in Montreal. The film also won a bronze audience award at the
Toronto After Dark Film Festival
Toronto After Dark Film Festival is a showcase of horror, sci-fi, action and cult cinema held annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The festival premieres a diverse selection of feature-length and short-films from around the world including n ...
that same year.
His next feature in 2009 marked another change in direction to romantic drama with '' Best of Times'', which was Thailand's submission to the
82nd Academy Awards
The 82nd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2009 and took place on March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p. ...
.
He said his difficult experience working dealing with the horror and anxiety of ''4bia'' prompted him to move toward drama. "I present serious issues as bitter pills coated with caramel," the director told ''Daily Xpress''. "This movie looks how you move on with your life after you've failed. This time, I've chosen not to dilute what I want to say with comedy."
Yongyoot had intended on participating in the ''4bia'' sequel ''Phobia 2'', but a car wreck during production of ''Best of Times'' left him seriously injured. His segment was taken over by producer Visute Poolvoralaks.
At GTH, he is the director of international marketing, and serves as a mentor to younger filmmakers in the company.
He is also president of the Thai Film Directors' Association and since 2008 has served as artistic director of the Bangkok International Film Festival, and was responsible for making sure all films shown in the festival had Thai subtitles.