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‘Api’, called ‘Joe’, was one step away from his retirement as a filmmaker. Awarded several times at Cannes –Palma d’Or included–, he wanted a break from his native Thailand, politically difficult but comfortable on the set. Until a long artistic stay in Colombia and a sound explosion that only he heard in his head led to ‘Memoria’. A film that, although it addresses the trauma, vegetation and oblivion common in his filmography, has made him feel “young”. This was his rebirth with Tilda Swinton.
Born in 1970 in Bangkok, but raised in the northeast of Thailand –in Khon Kaen–, ‘Api’ Weerasethakul He is one of the most original contemporary film directors, as well as an influential architect and creator of visual installations / exhibitions.
In this interview for France 24 from Bogotá’s Casa Legado, we talk about his cinephile gaze, his childhood Amazonian and extraterrestrial inspirations, his professional reality under an authoritarian monarchy and his latest Colombian creation that, more than the country, talks about him of his “exploding head syndrome” and his curiosity about history, sound, and simply feeling.
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