Mom Luang Mingmongkol Sonakul ' onMouseout='HidePop("28416")' href="/topics/Bangkok">Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

) is a Thai

Thai people

The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...

 film producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

 and independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

 director

Film director

A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...

. As the head of her own production company, Dedicate Ltd., she has produced films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004...

 (Mysterious Object at Noon

Mysterious Object at Noon

Mysterious Object at Noon is a 2000 Thai independent experimental documentary film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.-Production:The film is unscripted and uses the exquisite corpse party game as a concept, with the film crew traveling across Thailand, interviewing people and asking each...

); Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang

Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his arthouse work, Last Life in the Universe, and is considered to be one of Thai cinema's leading "new wave" auteurs, alongside Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul...

, including Invisible Waves

Invisible Waves

Invisible Waves is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe...

; Pimpaka Towira

Pimpaka Towira

Pimpaka Towira is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter and film producer. Her films include One Night Husband and The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong.-Career:...

's One Night Husband

One Night Husband

One Night Husband 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 director and one of the few female directors working in the Thai film industry...

and The Tin Mine

The Tin Mine

The Tin Mine is a 2005 Thai biographical drama film directed by Jira Maligool. It is adapted from short stories by Ajin Panjapan and his semi-autobiographical account of growing up in a mining camp in southern Thailand during the post-World War II years...

by Jira Maligool

Jira Maligool

Jira Maligool is a Thai film director, screenwriter and producer. He's directed two films, Mekhong Full Moon Party and The Tin Mine, and was the screenwriter behind the international hit, The Iron Ladies....

.

Education and career

Mingmongkol studied film at the San Francisco Art Institute

San Francisco Art Institute

San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...

. She then served as an intern at the Museum of Modern Art

Museum of Modern Art

The Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...

 in New York before returning to Thailand.

As a director, her films tend towards experimentalism. Her first feature film, I-San Special

I-San Special

I-San Special is a 2002 Thai experimental independent drama film directed by Mingmongkol Sonakul and based on an idea by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Set aboard a ramshackle inter-city bus traveling from Bangkok to Isan, the audio of a Thai radio soap opera is acted out by the passengers. However,...

, featured the audio from a radio soap opera set in a luxury resort hotel, played out by passengers on a rickety bus heading from Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

 to Isan

Isan

Isan is the northeastern region of Thailand. It is located on the Khorat Plateau, bordered by the Mekong River to the north and east, by Cambodia to the southeast and the Prachinburi mountains south of Nakhon Ratchasima...

.

Her 2005 feature, 3 Friends, co-directed with Aditya Assarat

Aditya Assarat

Aditya Assarat is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, producer and cinematographer.-Early career:...

 and Pum Chinaradee, and starring Napakpapha Nakprasitte

Napakpapha Nakprasitte

Napakpapha Nakprasitte is a Thai film actress. She is sometimes credited as Napakapa Nakprasit....

, is a blend of the "movie star exploitation" VCD

VCD

VCD is a three-letter abbreviation with multiple meanings, as described below:* VCD Athletic, semi-professional football team* Video CD* Voice command device* Value change dump * Vocal cord dysfunction* Visual Communication and Design...

s and unscripted reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 series, showing the bikini-clad actress taking a beach vacation with two other friends.

As producer

• The River of Chao Phraya (1998)
• Mysterious Object at Noon
  Mysterious Object at Noon
  Mysterious Object at Noon is a 2000 Thai independent experimental documentary film directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.-Production:The film is unscripted and uses the exquisite corpse party game as a concept, with the film crew traveling across Thailand, interviewing people and asking each...
  
  (2000)
• I-San Special
  I-San Special
  I-San Special is a 2002 Thai experimental independent drama film directed by Mingmongkol Sonakul and based on an idea by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. Set aboard a ramshackle inter-city bus traveling from Bangkok to Isan, the audio of a Thai radio soap opera is acted out by the passengers. However,...
  
  (2002)
• One Night Husband
  One Night Husband
  One Night Husband 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 director and one of the few female directors working in the Thai film industry...
  
  (2003)
• The Tin Mine
  The Tin Mine
  The Tin Mine is a 2005 Thai biographical drama film directed by Jira Maligool. It is adapted from short stories by Ajin Panjapan and his semi-autobiographical account of growing up in a mining camp in southern Thailand during the post-World War II years...
  
  (2005)
• 3 Friends (2005)
• Invisible Waves
  Invisible Waves
  Invisible Waves is a 2006 crime film by Thai director Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, with screenplay by Prabda Yoon, cinematography by Christopher Doyle, and starring Tadanobu Asano – all people that Pen-Ek had worked with on his previous film, Last Life in the Universe...
  
  (2006)
• Twelve Twenty (2006)
• Alone
  Alone (2007 film)
  Alone is a 2007 Thai horror film directed by Banjong Pisanthanakun and Parkpoom Wongpoom, a duo whose debut film, Shutter, was a box-office smash in Thailand and other Asian countries. Alone stars Thai-German pop singer Marsha Wattanapanich in her first film role in 15 years.-Plot:Pim was born as...
  
  (2007)