A debut feature about a teenage girl, a strict rural household and a herd of buffalo is about to reach Thai cinemas — and its story is as much about the filmmaker as the plot.
Tame, from 29-year-old non-binary Bangkok director Thamuya Thasananukulkij, opens across Thailand on 29 October. Set in a rural cockfighting village, it follows Khan, an adopted teenager played by Pimmada Chaiyasena, raised in a harsh household. Her grandmother Nga demands family repayment through care, while an aunt offers a way out to Bangkok — and an ancient spirit waits to tame those who fight back, like Khan's cockfighting aunt.
The idea came from Thamuya's own childhood: feelings they couldn't name until they encountered cattle at a friend's house in Suphan Buri — creatures that seemed to understand everything yet couldn't speak. The analogy between how caretakers tame animals and how families tame children became the film's spine, with research into cockfighting in Sukhothai shaping the world on screen.
Thamuya's route into film began with bootleg DVDs of Resident Evil, Cannibal Row and The Ring, then deepened at Thammasat University's Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication. There they made thesis shorts and the award-winning Bangkok Tradition, part of the 2022 Voices Off The New Gen programme. Their group project Haunted Universities, a horror short inspired by a legend of an old haunted house, and the 2026 short Dorm rounded out a slate that caught festival attention.
The personal thread matters. Thamuya came to understand their gender nonconformity in elementary school, explored identities from gay to transgender in their twenties, and now identifies broadly as queer. Their work — including the 2023 short Suits, about a gay man returning home for his brother's wedding — questions hypocrisy and misogyny within the queer community itself, and asks whether Thai society is ready for fluidity. The film even touches on real history: HIV/Aids spreading through nightclubs in the late 1980s, covered up at the time.
For travellers in Thailand this autumn, Tame is a rare chance to see the country's independent queer cinema on the big screen rather than in festivals only. Thai queer representation often stays invisible in real life, and filmmakers tend to pick stories they believe most Thais already accept. Thamuya pushes back: films shouldn't have to feature characters from across the spectrum — as a filmmaker, they simply don't start with gender or sexuality. That independence of voice is exactly what makes Tame worth a cinema seat while you're in Bangkok. (Source: Bangkok Post Life)
