Thai film A Useful Ghost, a quirky romantic drama directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, has secured the top honour at Cannes Critics’ Week. The feature, which marks the first Thai film to be screened in the parallel section in a number of years, received the inaugural AMI Paris Grand Prize.
This win is a significant milestone for Thai cinema on the global stage. Critics’ Week, also known as Semaine de la Critique, is a parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival dedicated to showcasing first and second-time filmmakers.
A Useful Ghost tells the unusual story of Nat, played by top Thai actress, model, and influencer Davika Hoorne. Nat dies due to dust pollution and then returns as a ghost, inhabiting a vacuum cleaner. Determined to protect her family from a similar fate, she seeks to help them.
The film also stars Witsarut Himmarat as Nat’s husband, March, whose wealthy manufacturing family initially rejects this unconventional human-ghost relationship. The story also explores themes of family conflict as Nat tries to convince her in-laws that their love can coexist and that she can be a “useful ghost” by helping to resolve ghostly disturbances at the family factory.
Director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke has explained his creative approach to the film, stating, “One of my first ideas was wondering how a ghost could exist in contemporary society. Do they need to work? Because the cost of living here is now very expensive.”
The jury for this year’s Critics’ Week was presided over by Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and included UK actor Daniel Kaluuya, Moroccan journalist Jihane Bougrine, French-Canadian cinematographer Josée Deshaies, and Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara.
They praised A Useful Ghost as a “bold, free and unclassifiable work. A first feature that plays with genres, bends the rules, and offers a vision that is both intimate and universal. This film surprised, touched and shook us, and it’s this rare blend of humour, melancholy and masterful cinematography that we wanted to salute.”
The film is a co-production between Thailand, Singapore, France, and Germany, receiving support from various organizations, including post-production funding from Thailand’s Ministry of Culture’s Department of Cultural Promotion and grants from Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA).
In addition to the Grand Prize, other awards were presented across various categories within Critics’ Week, highlighting new talent in global cinema. A Useful Ghost was also nominated for the Caméra d’Or (Golden Camera) and the Queer Palm.
