SAMUI SONG

Pen-ek Ratanaruang was born in Bangkok in 1962. He spent eight formative years in his late teens and early twenties in New York City, where he studied at the Pratt Institute majoring in Art History. He went on to work as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. Back in Thailand, he was appointed Head of Art at the Leo Burnett agency and spent five years as an art director before directing TV commercials.

He made his debut as a feature film director in 1997 with FUN BAR KARAOKE. Since then he has been recognized as a major pioneer in the Thai New Wave cinema of the late 90s/early 2000s. Four of his films – 6IXTYNIN9, MON-RAK TRANSISTOR, LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE and HEADSHOT – were Thailand’s official submissions to the Best Foreign Language Oscar category. His films have been screened in major festivals and have been distributed worldwide.