The clouds descend onto a village and engulf it for a day. They touch the roof tiles, the beds, the chairs, the carpets, the grass, and the bodies, infecting everything with the fever of white stupor. Of Vapour, Apichatpong has written: ‘Toongha village in Mae Ram district has been my home for the past eight years. I’ve learned that in its tranquility lay a hidden rage. The village is one of several areas in the country that are plagued with land management issues. It is a battleground between the people and the state. For the past sixty years, the villagers have petitioned for the ownership of the land in which their families had settled for generations.’

Please note: this film is silent

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Apichatpong Weerasethakul grew up in Khon Kaen in north-eastern Thailand. He began making film and video shorts in 1994, and completed his first feature in 2000. He has also mounted exhibitions and installations in many countries since 1998. Often non-linear, with a strong sense of dislocation, his works deal with memory, subtly addressing personal politics and social issues. His 2009 project, Primitive, consists of a large-scale video installation, an artist’s book, and a feature film, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives. The film won a Palme d’Or prize at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival in 2010, making it the first Southeast Asian film (and the 7th from Asia) to win the prestigious award. In 2012, he participated in Documenta (13), one of the most well-known art exhibitions in Kassel, Germany. Apichatpong also received the Sharjah Biennial Prize at the 11th Sharjah Biennial and the Fukuoka Prize, Japan, both in 2013. In late 2014, he received the Yanghyun Art Prize, one of the most prestigious prizes in Korea. In 2016, a retrospective of his films was presented at Tate Britain, and he was the Principal Laureate of the 2016 Prince Claus Awards, the Netherlands. He has just released Memoria, his first feature length film shot outside of Thailand. Apichatpong currently works and lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand.