Vijit Kunawut
Writing
Biography
Born in 1922 in Chachoengsao, Thailand, Vijit Kunawut graduated from Vajiravudh College in 1946 and started working as a journalist under the pen name Kunawut. He broke into film in 1950, when he was offered the villain's role in Fa Kamnod. From there, he worked as a screenwriter, writing the dialogue for an adaptation of Wannaboon Withayakom's Phrom Bandan. His first screenplay was Santi-Vina. In 1978 he wrote and directed the drama, My Dear Wife. Next he wrote and directed Mountain People, a docu-drama about Thailand's hill tribes. It is one of his best regarded films. But his most well-known, critically acclaimed film is 1982's A Son of the Northeast, which was shot in a similar documentary style, depicting hard-scrabble life in Thailand's rural northeast. In 1983, he became the first person in Thailand to be awarded an honorary doctorate in Communication Arts by Chulalongkorn University. In 1987, he was the first director to be honored by Thailand's National Culture Commission as the National Artist for Dramatic Arts (Motion Pictures). Vijit died in 1997 at the age of 75. In 2005, the Bangkok International Film Festival included four films by Vijit in a retrospective - My Dear Wife, Mountain People, A Son of the Northeast and his Vietnam War-era drama, Boon Rawd. The festival catalog noted that "Vijit Kunawut is regarded today as a master of the Thai motion picture industry - one of the greatest inspirations to later generations of filmmakers, praised as a genius of directing, screenwriting and editing. What makes his films special is not sophisticated technique, but an exceptional clarity and concision."
Known For
Customs of the mountain people has always been strict and respectful to themselves. Doing something wrong will be considered as being disrespect to the spirits. Marrying someone from a different tribe is also wrong. Giving birth to twins, she and her husband together with the kids will have to leave the tribe.
Mountain People
Set in a picturesque rural area, Santi-Vina is a story of doomed romance between a blind man and a beautiful girl, with a Buddhist element in the mix.
Santi-Vina
A forbidden love story of Yupadee and Sangmong who believe that love is forever. Yupadee is a beautiful lady who married to Papho, an old but wealthy man who owns the Camp Wood in Kampangpetch province.
Forever Yours
A historical drama set in the 1930s Isan province Thailand, telling the travails of a small clan of subsistence farmers and their village as a particularly bad drought reduces them to bush living.
A Son of the Northeast
No description available.
Pah Kammathep
A remake of well known story… Three men and the woman who comes between them. The men, all struggling in early adulthood, share a floating bamboo hut on the river. The woman Penh is the daughter of the boys' landlord, and the likely fiancee of law student Jane. The brash, alpha-male Kaew is a Muay Thai fighter. And there's Rin a singer. All the guys have an eye on Penh, and Penh clearly adores the attentions of them all.
The Houseboat
Aniruth is married and has two children, but he is a womanizer. Centers on the rivalry between a legitimate wife and her husband's mistresses, set against a backdrop of rising middle-class prosperity and social ambition.
My Dear Wife
Boon Rawd, a feisty young woman returns to her hometown to seek solace and work after she is violated by her employer. Back home, she realises many women have out of financial desperation become rent wives for the American soldiers at the military airbase near her village.
Boon Rawd
This film is based on a novel by Kritsana Asoksin, published in Satrisan magazine between 1969 and 1970. It tells the story of Phim and Wannree, a couple living with their two growing children. When Pudkrong, a young widow who is Wannree's best friend, becomes close to them and has an affair with Phim, their once peaceful family falls apart. It has been adapted into numerous films and television dramas.
Water Erodes Sand
Prae, a young man from Ban Sala Kwian, is fascinated by the prosperity of Bangkok. He escapes ordination, which devotes to his parents. And also avoids marrying Sabai, a rural girl chosen by her parents, to go to Bangkok. Bangkok causing Prae to be disappointed because he only met people with unkindness including a Bangkok girl that Prae love. Even faced with gangsters try to snatch the Buddha statue, which Prae brought with him, so he had to become a boxer.
Charming Bangkok
A young girl was born into a noble family and lived a rich life. After her father passed away, Pin, her mother remarries to Mr. Athon Hengkul, a young businessman with stepdaughter. He always loves and cares for her. One day, her new father died. Abchit, Mr. Athon's sister do not agree with the treasure that she and her mother receive. Out of jealousy, she conspires with Athon's second son hoping to make her a wife. Meanwhile, she goes to stay with her friend Sai Samorn. Here, she meets and falls in love with Sol Thongprai, a handsome lawyer farmer.
Miss Poradok
Poradok Sakuna is a young woman caught in a tangle of greed and betrayal. Her stepfather's sister, coveting her inheritance, arranges for her nephew to marry Poradok by force - despite him already having a secret wife. Meanwhile, Poradok's mother Khunying Phin is having an affair with the family lawyer.
Miss Phorakot
The story of a young woman named Konthong who was kidnapped by a young man named Inthon on her wedding night and taken to be detained in a Karen village.
Mae Sri Prai
The documentary produced in commemoration of the 101st anniversary of the birth of “Vijit Kunawut,” one of the greatest directors in the history of Thai cinema.