Apichatpong Weerasethakul, from Thailand, is a renowned 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, winner of a jury prize at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; Blissfully Yours, winner of the top prize in the Un Certain Regard program at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival; and Syndromes and a Century, which premiered at the 63rd Venice Film Festival and is the first Thai film to be entered in competition there.

Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Weerasethakul has directed several features and dozens of short films. Themes reflected in his films frequently discussed in interviews include dreams, nature, sexuality and Western perceptions of Thailand and Asia. His films display a preference for unconventional narrative structures, like placing titles/credits at the middle of a film, and for working with those who have no previous experience of acting. The exhibition at IMMA, entitled For Tomorrow For Tonight, features new work that explores the theme of night through video, photographs and installation. Night and darkness are recurring motifs in Weerasethakul’s films (such as Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Tropical Malady and The Primitive Project) and the themes are examined even further here. This new multimedia installation was made following The Primitive Project, which was shown to critical acclaim around the world, and his feature film Uncle Boonmee.

Weerasethakul was born in 1970 in Bangkok and grew up in Khon Kaen, a city in the north east of Thailand. He received a degree in Architecture from Khon Kaen University and a Master of Fine Arts in Filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has been making films and videos since the early 1990s.

The exhibition, curated by Enrique Juncosa, Director of IMMA, is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue designed by Pony, London and featuring texts by Chris Dercon, Director of Tate Modern and Eungie Joo, curator at New Museum, New York among others. During July and August, the IFI is running a season of his films to coincide with the exhibition at the Museum.