A poster for Plae Chow (The Old Scar), Cherd Songsri's best-known film. It was a period romance about two doomed lovers in rural Thailand.

Cherd Songsri (Thai: เชิด ทรงศรี, died May 20, 2006) was a Thai film director, screenwriter and film producer. A maker of period films that sought to introduce international audiences to his vision of Thai culture, his best-known work is the 1977 romance film Plae Chow (The Scar), which earned more box-office receipts than any Thai film before it. It won a prize at the 1981 Three Continents Festival in Nantes, France. May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Screenwriters, scenarists or script writers, are authors who write the screenplays from which movies and television programs are made. ... The Big Buddha statue in Koh_Samui, Thailand. ... // Events In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network. ... The romance film has as its central plot the beginning, obstruction and eventual, though often tragic, fruition of a romance. ... City motto: Favet Neptunus eunti. ...

Biography

Cherd was born in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province. He was trained as a maker of nang talung shadow puppets, which were fashioned out of animal skins. He was also a school teacher in Uttaradit Province and then became an editor of publications for the Express Transportation Organization of Thailand. From there, he became an editor of the Movie and TV Weekly magazine of Lak Muang Daily newspaper. He wrote articles and short stories, as well as scripts for radio and television programs. Nakhon Si Thammarat (often in short Nakhon, Thai นครศรีธรรมราช) is one of the southern provinces (changwat) of Thailand, at the eastern shore of the Gulf of Thailand. ... A shadow puppet is a puppet intended for performance at night or in a darkened interior space. ... Uttaradit (Thai อุตรดิตถ์) is one of the northern provinces (changwat) of Thailand. ...

Norah in 1966 was his first film. He handled all aspects of its production, from script writing, to securing financing and shooting the picture. It was a method of work that he retained throughout his entire career. Another film was the comedy, Poh-pla-lai, starring Sombat Metanee. Both were the most successful Thai films of the 16-mm era. // Events Top grossing films North America Thunderball Dr. Zhivago Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? That Darn Cat! The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming Academy Awards Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons - Highland, Columbia Best Actor: Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor... Thai leading man Sombat Metanee has starred in more than 600 films, mostly in the 1960s and 70s. ... The cinema of Thailand has a history that stretches back to early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorns 1897 visit to Berne, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. ...

Cherd studied filmmaking in the late 1960s at the University of California Los Angeles, and trained under director Walter Doniger at Burbank Studios. The University of California, Los Angeles, popularly known as UCLA, is a public, coeducational university situated in the neighborhood of Westwood within the city of Los Angeles. ...

His stay in the United States made him reflect on Thai culture and upon his return to Thailand, he established his own production company, Cherdchai, and set about making films that would present his concept of "Thainess" – idealized Thai values and culture of bygone years – to international audiences, making him the first Thai director to make films with international audiences in mind.

Films from this period include Khwam Rak (1973) and Pho Kai Chae (1975) and his most ambitious film, Plae Chow (The Old Scar) in 1977, starring Sorapong Chatree and Nantana Ngaograjang. Sorapong Chatree (Thai สรพงษ์ ชาตรี) is a Thai film actor. ...

The story of a tragic romance between two peasants in rural Thailand, the Plae Chow was the biggest box-office hit up until that time in Thailand. It shared the Golden Montgolfiere at the Nantes Three Continents Festival with Eles Não Usam Black-Tie by Brazilian director Leon Hirszman. It was also voted as one of the world's 360 classic movies by the Museum of the Moving Image in London, Sight and Sound magazine and film directors and critics worldwide in 1998. The Old Scar was remade in 2002 as Kwan-Riam. The Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) was a museum of the history of moving picture technology and media, including cinema and its forerunners, opened in 1988 and sited below Waterloo Bridge and forming part of the cultural complex on the South Bank of the River Thames, London. ... Sight and Sound is a British monthly magazine about film. ... This is a list of film-related events in 2002. ...

Some Thai critics said Cherd was promoting a stereotypical image of Thailand. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

"When I produced Plae Chow, I used the slogan 'We must show Thai traditional style to the world'," Cherd told the Thai website Movieseer. "This produced a great deal of negative sentiment towards the picture, because some people believe that this is not a topic to be shown on film. I am a stubborn person though, and once I set my mind to including this in my films, well it's been in every film I have ever made. The press is always asking me when I will make a contemporary film, but now, no one is asking."

Cherd directed and produced a total of 18 films. His last film, Khang Lang Phap (Behind the Painting) in 2001 was based on the classic Thai novel by Kulap Saipradit. It was a remake of a 1970s film by another veteran Thai director, Piak Poster. This is a list of film-related events in 2001. ... Kulap Saipradit (Siburapha), born on 31 March 1905 in Bangkok, was one of the best newspaper editors and foremost novelists of his time. ...

Among projects that he had hoped to make were a biographical film of Thai statesman Pridi Phanomyong as well as a movie that "tells the truth" about King Mongkut and Anna Leonowens of The King and I and Anna and the King fame, films that are banned in Thailand because of their portrayal of the king. Pridi Phanomyong Pridi Phanomyong (May 11, 1900 - May 2, 1983) was a Thai politician. ... King Mongkut (Rama IV), (October 18, 1804 – October 18, 1868) was king of Thailand from 1851 to 1868. ... Anna Leonowens (November, 1831 - January 19, 1915) is chiefly famous for being the British governess portrayed in the musical The King and I. The play, based on adaptations of her factually slipshod memoirs, provides a fictionalised look at her life in the royal court of Siam (present-day Thailand). ... Anna and the King is a 1999 motion picture loosely based on the true story of Anna Leonowens, who was an English schoolteacher in Siam, now Thailand, in the 19th_century. ...

He battled cancer the last four years of his life, writing the book, Bantuek Kab Kwam-tai (A Diary of Death). He died at Ramathibodi Hospital in Bangkok. The Bangkok Skytrain at sunset on Thanon Narathiwat Ratcha Nakharin with Empire Tower at the back. ...

Cherd was secretive about his age, saying he had stopped counting his birthdays at age 28. But in an obituary, The Nation reported his age was 75. External Links: MangoDaily. ...

Partial filmography

• Norah (1966)
• Lampoo (1970)
• Poh-pla-lai (A Light in the Dark) (1971)
• Khwam Rak (1973)
• The Love (1974)
• Pho Kai Chae (1975)
• Plae chow (The Scar) (1977)
• The Two Worlds (1990)
• The Tree of Life (1992)
• Southern Winds (1993)
• Amdaeng Muen kab nai Rid (Muen and Rid) (1994)
• Khang lang phap (Behind the Painting) (2001)

// Events Top grossing films North America Thunderball Dr. Zhivago Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf? That Darn Cat! The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming Academy Awards Best Picture: A Man for All Seasons - Highland, Columbia Best Actor: Paul Scofield - A Man for All Seasons Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor... // Events February 11 - The film The Magic Christian, starring Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr premieres in New York City. ... See also: 1970 in film 1971 1972 in film 1970s in film years in film film // Events February 8 - Bob Dylans hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New Yorks Academy of Music. ... // Events The Marx Brothers Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. ... See also: 1973 in film 1974 1975 in film 1970s in film years in film film // Events February 7 - Blazing Saddles is released in USA May 1 - George Lucas creates the first draft of what would eventually become Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. ... // Events January 28 - George Lucas creates the second draft of what would eventually become Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. ... // Events In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network. ... This is a list of film-related events in 1990. ... This is a list of film-related events in 1992. ... This is a list of film-related events in 1993. ... This is a list of film-related events in 1994. ... This is a list of film-related events in 2001. ...

References

• Veteran film director Cherd dies, Bangkok Post, May 21, 2006.
• "Legendary film-master Cherd Songsri succumbs to cancer at 75", The Nation, May 21, 2006.
• Director profile, Movieseer.com.

The Bangkok Post is one of three daily English-language newspapers published in Bangkok, Thailand. ... External Links: MangoDaily. ...

External links

• Cherd Songsri at The Internet Movie Database
• Cherd Songsri at the Thai Film Database