photo by Itsara Ariyaeakanun

Nontawat Numbenchapol is primarily known as a film director and television screenwriter, widely recognized for his documentary work. His moving image work is considered part of Thailand’s film wave exploring politics and the social sphere through poetics and cinematography. His work often unpacks societal and historical complexities in the porous geographies of inland Southeast Asia. Through an experimental documentary aesthetic, Numbenchapol’s work captures the stories of local people, refugees and immigrants, people marginalized by neo-colonial capitalism, and portrays them as living archives. He has made films and photographic installations concerning the contested Thai-Cambodia border and the holy archaeological site at its epicentre. Numbenchapol’s Mobile Lab Project researches experimental ways of visual and sound perception in humans.