Anocha Suwichakornpong, nicknamed Mai, is an independent film director, screenwriter and producer born in Chonbori, Thailand, who spent the 1990s living in England. Anocha graduated from Columbia University's MFA film program as an associate of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Now she is Visiting Lecturer on Art, Film, and Visual Studies at Harvard University.

In 2007, she founded the independent film production company, 'Electric Eel Films', which has been recognized for its contribution toward supporting works by emerging talents from Thailand and abroad. Her films have been the subject of retrospectives at the Museum of the Moving Image, New York; TIFF Cinematheque, Toronto; Cinema Moderne, Montreal; and Olhar De Cinema, Brazil, among others.

Her work, informed by the socio-political history of Thailand, has received much international critical acclaim and numerous awards. She is the recipient of the 2019 'Prince Claus award' for "for pioneering a mode of intellectual feminist filmmaking, courageously and convincingly challenging hegemonic practices and established conventions, both in filmmaking and in society". In 2020, she was a recipient of the Silpathorn Award.

Her work 'Graceland' (2006) became the first Thai short film to be included in the Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival. Mundane History (2009), her feature film debut, won a Tiger Award in 2010. Her short film 'Thursday' also had its world premiere at IFFR in 2015. 'By the Time It Gets Dark' (2016) was her second feature film. 'Krabi, 2562', a mischievous blend of documentary and camp co-directed with Ben Rivers, screens at IFFR 2020. Edit Biography