13 Facts About Wisit Sasanatieng

Wisit Sasanatieng is a Thai film director and screenwriter of Chinese descent.

Wisit Sasanatieng started out as an art director at the Film Factory, where he worked with Pen-Ek Ratanaruang.

Wisit Sasanatieng continues to work at Film Factory, making commercials in order to supplement his income in between making feature films.

Wisit Sasanatieng entered the film industry as a screenwriter for two of Nonzee's films, 1997's Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters, set in 1950s Thailand, and the ghost thriller, Nang Nak in 1999.

Wisit Sasanatieng's next project, 2004's Citizen Dog, was a contemporary romantic comedy set in Bangkok that proved to be even more colourful than Tears of the Black Tiger.

In 2006, while he was working to develop some future projects, Wisit Sasanatieng directed a low-budget Thai horror film for Five Star Production called The Unseeable.

The Unseeable marked a change for Wisit Sasanatieng, who was restrained by budgetary concerns from the stylizations of his first two films.

However, Wisit Sasanatieng said the film was not an adaptation of any of Hem's works but was generally inspired by Hem's style.

In 2007, Wisit Sasanatieng participated in the Short Films Project in Commemoration of the Celebration on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary, in which nine short films were made in honor of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Wisit Sasanatieng contributed Norasinghavatar, which featured his trademark colorful and highly stylized imagery, with a blend of khon masked dance and Thai two-handed swordplay.

Wisit Sasanatieng was given a budget of 400,000 baht, but his project's cost ballooned to 3 million, due to the special effects and post-production costs.

In 2005, when Luc Besson's EuropaCorp picked up Citizen Dog for distribution, the company agreed to co-produce with Five Star Production a long-gestating project by Wisit Sasanatieng called Nam Prix, which takes its name after red chilies used in Thai cooking.

In March 2006 another project was announced for Wisit Sasanatieng: a Chinese-language martial arts film called Armful, which is a revenge tale about a man who loses his arm.