“Cinema is a personal pursuit,” Apihcatpong said. “To present my point of view is to present a different kind of cinema, to push the boundary and to see what cinema can do.

“Everywhere in the world now, even in Cambodia or Laos, we’ve become something like a monoculture. We have the same logic about narrative, and minority culture has been prevented from being expressed. Cinema is one of the components that can foster the understanding in the culture. I hope that makes sense.”

Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul on the Palme d'Or top prize at the Cannes film festival

Aakash Nihalani