Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s feature A Useful Ghost has been selected as Thailand’s entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th annual Academy Awards.
The film follows March, who is mourning his wife, Nat, who has recently passed away due to dust pollution. He discovers her spirit has returned by possessing a vacuum cleaner. Disturbed by a ghost that appeared after a worker’s death shut down their factory, his family rejects their unconventional human-ghost relationship. Trying to convince them of their love, Nat offers to cleanse the factory. To become a useful ghost, she must first get rid of the useless ones.
The film debuted in the Critics’ Week sidebar at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. The cast includes Davika Hoorne, Witsarut Himmarat, Apasiri Nitibhon, Wanlop Rungkumjud, and Wisarut Homhuan.
Boonbunchachoke is a Bangkok-based filmmaker. He is best known for his short Red Aninsri; Or, Tiptoeing on the Still Trembling Berlin Wall, which won the Junior Jury award at Locarno 2020. A Useful Ghost won the Cannes Critics’ Week Grand Prize.
The National Film Association of Thailand announced the pick this morning. The Association’s board said it considered 57 entries. Thailand’s submission in 2024 was How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, directed by Pat Boonnitipat. That film was a box office hit across Asia. Produced by Thai film studio GDH, the film follows a young man, M, who moves in to take care of his terminally ill grandmother in a bid to win her inheritance. M is played by top singer-actor Putthipong Assaratanakul (also known as Billkin). It wasn’t shortlisted.
