Best Thai documentary movies
A curated collection of popular documentary movies from Thailand.
Y/Our Music (2014)
Y/Our Music (2014)
Y/OUR MUSIC immerses itself in the world of Thai music, from traditional music to labor songs and classical pop to urban indie music, spanning different locales and generations. As nine musicians each display their music, the rural or urban environments that influenced their sound are explored. The hands that play traditional instruments amid the red dust clouds, the labor songs being hummed in front of grains awaiting harvest, and the indie music born out of concrete basements create a melodious ecosystem. While they inhabit different musical worlds the musicians are connected by the same passion to bring their artistic aspirations to the fore and survive in the outskirts of the mainstream.
Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan (2005)
Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan (2005)
Described as ‘The Mardi Gras from Hell’ and ‘Thai Halloween" PHI TA KHON is a ghost festival that takes place every year in the Isan province of Northern Thailand. Filmed on location by Robert Millis and Richard Bishop in June 2004, Phi Ta Khon: Ghosts of Isan, is shot from the perspective of a participant, ensuring an intense and immersive experience for the viewer
Dharma Chakra: The Wheel of the Law (1964)
Dharma Chakra: The Wheel of the Law (1964)
Documenting the discovery of a large stone chakra in Nakhon Pathom.
City of Angels (1983)
City of Angels (1983)
Combining video, performance art, documentary, and tableau vivant, this short piece set in what appears to be part of the Ayutthaya Ruins in Bangkok, Thailand, begins with a panoramic shot of various Thai folks dressed in traditional garb and sleeping in the grass as a woman narrates. The rest of the piece is broken into six unbroken shots of these individuals in still poses depicting both some aspect of Thai life as well as suggesting its disquieting alienation from modernity, as the same woman narrator now sings. The final shot is again of the ensemble sleeping, suggesting that the previous montage was, indeed, a collective dream.
Krabi, 2562 (2019)
Krabi, 2562 (2019)
Explores the landscape and stories within the community of Krabi, Southern Thailand. A major tourist destination in Thailand, the filmmakers want to capture the town in this specific moment where the pre-historic, the more recent past and the contemporary world collide, sometimes uneasily.
The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave (2022)
The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave (2022)
In this compelling documentary, members of the Thai youth soccer team tell their stories of getting trapped in Tham Luang Cave in 2018 — and surviving.
Mother (2012)
Mother (2012)
"Mother is a hybrid of fiction and documentary. It is a portrait of the complicated, fragile, painful and realistic relationship between my mother and me. In the past, she once tried to commit suicide. Though the action was failed, she was disabled. Since the incident, my family has changed forever, and the film is my attempt to explore and understand her, myself and my family. To put it in a wider context, I analogically portrayed how Thai middle class family effected by Asian financial crisis in 1997 and explored the representation of family in Thai culture through the process of making this film."
Giant Slaves (2020)
Giant Slaves (2020)
This expository documentary is shedding some light on the southeast Asian elephant industry. What is this dark secret? And why is it harmful for the elephants? What is behind the latest trend “no riding”? What are the ethical elephant parks, and are they really in favor with their beloved animals?
Breaking the Cycle (2024)
Breaking the Cycle (2024)
A group of young politicians campaigning against an authoritarian constitution speak up, spark hope and ignite a once-in-a-generation movement in this energetic exploration of the recent elections in Thailand.
Our Last Twilight (2022)
Our Last Twilight (2022)
The final act of BKPPproject from the I Told Sunset About You installments.
Ashes (2012)
Ashes (2012)
In collaboration with Lomo, an Austrian camera company, and Mubi, a global film website, Weerasethakul was invited to make a work to launch the new LomoKino, a portable motion picture camera. Ashes juxtaposes the intimacy of his daily routine with the destruction of memories and his observations of the dark side of Thailand’s social realities.
I Told Sunset About You: The Documentary (2020)
I Told Sunset About You: The Documentary (2020)
A short documentary series showing the behind the scenes experience of creating "I Told Sunset About You."
BNK48: Girls Don't Cry (2018)
BNK48: Girls Don't Cry (2018)
A documentary about a Thai idol girl group, BNK48 originally adapting from a Japanese idol girl group, AKB48 open opportunity to ordinary teens to be selected into a controlled system and competitive concept.
Duck Academy (2019)
Duck Academy (2019)
Thousands of ducks, one farmer, and an ultimate goal to produce chemical-free rice. Against all odds, a determined farmer in Thailand trained ducks to be ‘rice protectors.’ Together, they joined hands (and wings) in the pursuit of sustainable farming. Amusing, adorable, yet informative, viewers will fall in love watching man and ducks, teacher and students, work together to keep our food safe from harmful chemicals.
Paradoxocracy (2013)
Paradoxocracy (2013)
Sociopolitical Documentary directed by Pen Ek Ratanaruang and Pasakorn Pramoolwong narrating the forward of (sometimes backward) Thai politics since People's Party (Khana Ratsadon) established a constitutional monarchy on 24 June 1932.
Did It Hurt? (2022)
Did It Hurt? (2022)
Nathan Lim honors his Muay Thai coach Nattawat Jophromma (aka Ajarn Wat) with this portrait that serves as “sort of a prayer,” dutifully recounting Johpromma’s past and his relationship with violence.
6 Weeks to Mother's Day (2017)
6 Weeks to Mother's Day (2017)
150 underprivileged and orphaned students in the remote jungle of Thailand attending the country's first democratic school prepare a special celebration to honor their remarkable adoptive mother on Mother's Day.
Come and See (2019)
Come and See (2019)
The controversial Thai Buddhist temple "Dhammakaya" is in crisis as its abbot was charged with money-laundering and receiving stolen property. The film reflects the clash between politics and faith in modern Thai society.
Souvenir (2018)
Souvenir (2018)
With the short film series, the director reimagines what a "souvenir" can be in a world of rapid-fire technology – not inanimate objects, but meaningful moments – and rescues the almost forgotten feeling of receiving an analog personal delivery.
The Master (2014)
The Master (2014)
A Thai documentary about 'Van VDO' the VHS shop in 1990s. The shop established the independent cinema scene for Thai audience by selling VHS of American, European, and Asian indie films. However, all of them are pirate and illegal.
Buddha's Lost Children (2006)
Buddha's Lost Children (2006)
Buddha's Lost Children is a feature-length documentary film about a Thai Buddhist monk who, armed only with his master boxing skills, wages an inspirational battle to help orphaned children, fight drug abuse, and preserve a vanishing way of life.
Mobile Men (2008)
Mobile Men (2008)
A joyful shot recorded by Weerasethakul himself and two young men who become acquainted by filming each other in the back of a moving pickup truck. Though seemingly playful, the short film is a subtle portrait of migrant workers in the north of Thailand.
Agrarian Utopia (2009)
Agrarian Utopia (2009)
Facing seizure of their own lands, two families found themselves farming together on the same field, hoping to get through just another rice-farming season like every year. But no matter how much the world is evolving, how much the country is going through economic, political and social changes, they still cannot grasp that ideology of happiness.
The Asylum (2015)
The Asylum (2015)
The lives of two refugees intertwine over a pond which acts as a sanctuary for them as they look toward liberation.
Tongpan (1977)
Tongpan (1977)
Tongpan is a 1977 Thai 16 mm black-and-white docudrama that re-creates a seminar that took place in Northeast Thailand in 1975 to discuss the proposed Pa-Mong Dam on the Mekong. Interwoven are sequences depicting a poor farmer, Tongpan, who had lost his land to another dam some years before, and his struggles to make ends meet.
