Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong Weerasethakul (อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล) was born on July 16, 1970. Apichatpong Weerasethakul movies and tv shows: Cemetery of Splendour 2015 (Thailand), Mekong Hotel 2012 (Thailand), Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 2010 (Thailand), Syndromes and a Century 2006 (Thailand), Tropical Malady 2004 (Thailand)...

Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer.
His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Blissfully Yours, which won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; Syndromes and a Century, which premiered at the 63rd Venice Film Festival and was the first Thai film to be entered in competition there; and Cemetery of Splendour, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2015 Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim. Weerasethakul has received numerous additional accolades, including the 2016 Principal Prince Claus Award.

Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Weerasethakul has directed several features and dozens of short films. Themes reflected in his films (frequently discussed in interviews) include dreams, nature, sexuality (including his own homosexuality), and Western perceptions of Thailand and Asia.
His films display a preference for unconventional narrative structures (like placing titles/credits at the middle of a film) and for working with non-actors. Cinephiles affectionately refer to him as "Joe" (a nickname that he, like many with similarly long Thai names, has adopted out of convenience).

Early Life & Career:
Apichatpong was born in Bangkok, Thailand to a Thai Chinese family. His parents were both physicians, and worked in a hospital in Khon Kaen, Thailand.
Apichatpong attended Khon Kaen University and received a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1994.
He made his first short film, Bullet, in 1993. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and received a master's degree of fine arts in filmmaking in 1997.

Apichatpong's feature-length debut, Dokfa nai meuman (Mysterious Object at Noon) is a documentary and was conceptually based upon the "exquisite corpse" game invented by surrealists.
He co-founded the production company, Kick the Machine, in 1999, and uses the company as a vehicle for his own works, alongside Thai experimental films and video.
The list of other founders includes Gridthiya Gaweewong and Suaraya Weerasethakul and the company co-organised the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival in 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2008.

(Source: Wikipedia)