Pimpaka Towira ( th, พิมพกา โตวิระ) is a Thai

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

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, p ...

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. ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

. Her films include ''

One Night Husband ''One Night Husband'' ( th, คืนไร้เงา or ''Kuen rai ngao'') is a 2003 Thai thriller film directed by Pimpaka Towira and co-written by Pimpaka and Prabda Yoon. It was the debut feature film for Pimpaka, an independent film dir ...

'', ''The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against

Supinya Klangnarong Supinya Klangnarong (born 1976) is a Thai media rights advocate and current vice-chair of the Campaign for Popular Media Reform (CPMR). A graduate of Chulalongkorn University, she holds a BA from the Faculty of Communication Arts, an MA from ...

'' and ''The Island Funeral''.

Career

Pimpaka Towira studied film at

Thammasat University Thammasat University (Abbreviation, Abrv: TU th, มธ.; th, มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์, , ) is a public research university in Thailand with campuses in Tha Phra Chan area of Phra Nakhon District near the ...

. After graduating, she worked on one film production, but, in her words, "found it disappointing and dropped out". She went to work as a film critic and writer for ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

'' newspaper in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, 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 estima ...

, and was programming director for 2001 Bangkok Film Festival, which was sponsored by ''The Nation''.Williamson, Robert. January 27, 200
Interview with the director of One Night Husband
Thai Film Foundation; retrieved 2007-12-03 She also made experimental short films. Among her early works was a short called ''Mae Nak'' (1997), a deconstruction of the

Mae Nak Phra Khanong Mae Nak Phra Khanong ( th, แม่นากพระโขนง, meaning 'Lady Nak of Phra Khanong'), or simply Mae Nak ( th, แม่นาก, 'Lady Nak') or Nang Nak ( th, นางนาก, 'Miss Nak'), is a well-known Thai ghost. Acc ...

ghost legend. Her feature film debut came in 2003 with ''

'', a romantic-thriller film that she co-wrote with

Prabda Yoon Prabda Yoon ( th, ปราบดา หยุ่น; ; born 2 August 1973 in Bangkok) is a Thai writer, novelist, filmmaker, artist, graphic designer, magazine editor, screenwriter, translator and media personality. His literary debut, ''Muang Mo ...

and Laddawan Ratanadilokchai. Co-produced by

Mingmongkol Sonakul Mom Luang Mingmongkol Sonakul ( th, มิ่งมงคล โสณกุล; , born 1971 in Bangkok, Thailand) is a Thai film producer and independent film director. As the head of her own production company, Dedicate Ltd., she has produced fi ...

, the film starred

Nicole Theriault Nicole Theriault ( th, นิโคล เทริโอ; born June 23, 1972), known as Nikki, is a Thai singer and actress, who went platinum with 2 million copies sold on her debut album ''Ka-Po-Lo Club'' and went double platinum on her seco ...

and

Siriyakorn Pukkavesh Siriyakorn "Oom" Pukkavesa ( th, สิริยากร พุกกะเวส; , born June 13, 1974 in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand) is a Thai actress, model, presenter, designer and magazine publisher. She is best known by her nickname, ...

. It premiered at the

Berlin International 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 festi ...

, and was screened at several other film festivals. In 2005, Pimpaka was featured in ''Worldly Desires'', portraying a film director in a short film by

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Apichatpong Weerasethakul ( th, อภิชาติพงศ์ วีระเศรษฐกุล; ; ) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, ...

. The film was commissioned as part of the Digital Short Films by Three Directors project of the

Jeonju International Film Festival Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF, Korean: 전주국제영화제, Hanja: 全州國際映畵祭) is an Asian film festival. It was launched in 2000 as a non-competitive film festival with partial competition. It introduces independent a ...

. Meanwhile, Pimpaka had started on her next feature, a documentary on

, profiling the Thai media activist and her legal fight against defamation lawsuits brought against her by the

Shin Corporation Intouch Holdings PCL ( th, บริษัท อินทัช โฮลดิ้งส์ จำกัด (มหาชน); formerly Shin Corporation) is a Thai holding company which focuses on telecommunication industry. It is the parent ...

, at the time owned by the family of Prime Minister

Thaksin Shinawatra Thaksin Shinawatra ( th, ทักษิณ ชินวัตร; ; ; Chinese: 丘達新; cnr, Taksin Šinavatra; born 26 July 1949), is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, a ...

. Filmed over the course of nearly three years, ''The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong'' covers the political scene in Thailand in the last days of the Thaksin administration, the controversial sale of his family's assets to Singapore's Temasek Holdings, demonstrations against Thaksin, the

2006 Thai coup d'état The 2006 Thai ''coup d'état'' took place on 19 September 2006, when the Royal Thai Army staged a ''coup d'état'' against the elected caretaker government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The ''coup d'état'', which was Thailand's first ...

and the post-coup atmosphere. The film premiered in September 2007 during the Digital Forum in Bangkok.Delaying the truth
''The Nation (Thailand)''; retrieved 2007-12-03 Also in 2007, she directed a series of short films for the Free Thai Cinema Movement, which featured interviews with Thai film directors and artists opposed to censorship of films by the government. In 2010, her short film, ''My Father'', won the Special Jury Award at International Film Festival of Asian-Pacific countries in Vladivostok, after which she made three acclaimed shorts, ''Terribly Happy (2010)'', ''Mother (2012)'' and ''Prelude To The General (2016)'' Her second feature, ''The Island Funeral (2015)'', won the Best Asian Future Film Award at Tokyo International Film Festival 2015, FIPRESCI Award at the Hong Kong International Film Festival 2016 and received the Silver Hanoman Award at Jogja-NETPAC Asian Film Festival 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Towira, Pimpaka Year of birth missing (living people) Living people

Pimpaka Towira Pimpaka Towira ( th, พิมพกา โตวิระ) is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter and film producer. Her films include '' One Night Husband'', ''The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong'' and ''The Isl ...

Career

See also

References

External links