The Lost Sound

I am a freelance filmmaker working mostly as an editor for trailers, and a variety of NGO documentary and campaign films. Aside from this I’m building my career as a documentary filmmaker and am currently at various stages with eight projects. Some of these projects have already been filmed while others, like The Lost Sound, are in development.

Over the last year my eyes have been opened to the power of real world storytelling, and how these stories can affect change in a positive way. I was visiting a friend in Bangkok when I stumbled upon a remarkable musician in the weekend market, ex-army officer Captain Prasert. Through our discussion it became apparent that he was one of the last champions of the style of music he played. Many styles of Thai music are largely ignored by Thai people; especially traditional music or music that originates from outside the capital, Bangkok, where the middle class dictates what is and isn't Thai culture. The Lost Sound, which also translates as ‘Out of Tune’, is a feature documentary which will follow the custodians who lend their lives to the conservation and reinvention of such music.

The film will follow the music and lives of several musicians from different disciplines, while also revealing the difference in the lives of Thailand’s populace as the country’s political situation worsens. Initial research and contact suggests the following participants (who can be seen in this order on the teaser trailer): http://www.vimeo.com/21482388

Captain Prasert Keawpukdee, 73, taught himself to both construct and play the Thai traditional instrument known as a 'ranart'. Having originally been forced to use leaves as instruments he later also mastered the mouth organ and later the violin.

Thongsai Tuptanon, 62, was born and raised in a poor farming family in Ubon Rachathani. Thongsai became a mixture of a farmer and a musician, playing and touring with his father as often as he could when not working the fields, before developing his own unique sound playing the ‘pin’.

Somtow Papinian Sucharitkul, 59 worked as a composer in Thailand in the 1970s. He gave up music for two decades when his experimental compositions (such as using Traditional Thai instruments alongside classical Western instruments) were met with hostility. While receiving international acclaim, Somtow’s music remains largely ignored in Thailand where he is considered too high-brow.

Funded by London (July 2011)