The first time I met Komtouch Napattaloong was when his short film, Hours of Ours (2023), has yet to be premiered. Now the multihyphenated filmmaker has not only premiered the film but has also been involved with various film projects such as Cinema For All as part of the Thailand Biennale 2023, No Exorcism Film (2024), and Breaking the Cycle (2024). Ending 2024 on a high note, his curated program, “Infringes,” now screens at the Bangkok Kunsthalle.
A documentarian by nature, Komtouch is familiar with concepts like media sovereignty. His program gives power to the viewers and film subjects — not power over. This is especially important when dealing with sensitive subject matter, including marginalized communities.
Although “Infringes” screens daily in Bangkok, its ideas stretch far beyond the metropolis. The program successfully presents questions as to why the author exists, must authors exist, and what role, then, do they presume in storytelling. The curatorial program appears self-aware of its historically oppressive medium — the camera — and seeks to elevate this discourse.
While Komtouch may have curated “Infringes,” his authorship disappears the moment one views the program. London-based artist Aura Satz’s While Smoke Signals (2023), evokes an eerie sound of extractive machinery. Satz touches on how far signals can go until they cease to be alarming. In Sky Hopinka’s I’ll Remember You As You Were, Not As What You’ll Become (2016), the audience is invited to consider whether morality is a cage or a driving force.
In the program, marginalized communities are not the screen’s victims but, rather, storytellers who invite viewers to see their own humanity. Only then will they, by extension, be able to recognize the humanity among those infringed.
The “Infringes” curated program is being screened for free at until December 22nd at Bangkok Kunsthalle from 2:00 pm – 8:00 pm.
Teerin Julsawad 
Thailand NOW