utamachote
ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ
ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ
Sarnt Utamachote
ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ
Sarnt Utamachote (ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ) is a Southeast Asian nonbinary filmmaker and curator based in Berlin. Their work explores the intersection between activism and contemporary art through intense research and community-based collaborations in the form of exhibition or film. They curated many programs and exhibitions regarding postcolonial and migration histories, Southeast Asian diaspora, queerness, and transnationalism.
They co-founded of un.thai.tled, an artist collective from the Thai-German diaspora in 2019. They also is a founding member of Cruising Curators, a collective of curators that formed out of 11th Berlin Biennale’s Young Curators Workshop 2020.
Currently they are interested in different migration trajectories from Southeast Asia to the divided Germany. On the “East” side of the wall, they have researched on especially Cambodian art/design students who were delegated to study and remain exiled in the GDR. This features, for example, Song Hak Ky (1951-2000) - whose work and biography has been curated for Echoes of Brother Countries at HKW Berlin (2024). With Phuong Phan, the project Where is my karaoke? further explores social realities of these migrants - now including the Vietnamese contract workers and Laos students. It took shape as an exhibition at D21 Project Space Leipzig (2022) and Museum of visual arts MDBK (2023)
On the other side in FRG (Federal Republic Germany), they collaborate with Thai and Filipina women (and transwomen) who migrated as the so-called “catalogue women” (Asian wives married to European husbands). This took shape in Beyond the kitchen: Stories from the Thai Park at Villa Oppenheim (2020), and In nobody’s service at Galerie Wedding Berlin (2024).
Their recent exhibition Young Birds From Strange Mountains (2025) at Schwules Museum brings together young queer artists, their spiritual practices and non-Western knowledge from Southeast Asia and diaspora. It deals with archival materials from across the region and collection of Schwules Museum itself, such as Thai erotic magazines from 1990s, or Gaya Nusantara from Indonesia. It’s a collaboration with Hanoi Queer Museum and Indonesian Queer Archive, and more.
For public programs, they curated the intervention Forgetting Thailand at exhibition Nation, Narration, Narcosis of Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum of Contemporary Arts (2022). With collective Cruising Curators, they co-curate the 2-years program Dissident Paths (2025-26) at nGbK, focusing on walking and public intervention as research methods.
Additionally they work as a film programmer at Short Film Festival Hamburg, XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin and Sinema Transtopia. This includes some programs at Sinema such as Imagining Queer Bandung (2021 with Popo Fan and Ragil Huda) workshop series and un.thai.tled Film Festival Berlin (with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, 2020, 2021, 2023) at Sinema Transtopia.
Their short documentary films deal with intimacies and structures of Berlin queer kinship, sociality and collectivitiy. These are Sonic Reverbs (2022 - which won Xposed Short Film Fund 2020), I Am Not Your Mother (2020) or Soy Sauce (2020) have been screened internationally. I don’t want to be just memory (2024 - won the Dok.Composition Award at Dokfest Munich 2022 and NEBULAE Award to represent German film project at DocLisboa 2022) has its world premiere at 74th Berlinale Forum Expanded 2024. It has been screened internationally at 68th BFI London Film Festival, 41st Kassel Documentary, 38th European Media Arts, Queer Lisboa, for example.
They also worked on and edited various music videos, online contents and short films such as Hundefreund (2022), nominated for National German Short Film Award.
They have published articles and released podcasts and radio shows in various medias. Archive Books has published two readers from HKW, which include their text on migrant communities in the GDR and community-based film practices. Their contributions appeared on Cashmere Radio, Re:publica Berlin, for example.
They co-founded of un.thai.tled, an artist collective from the Thai-German diaspora in 2019. They also is a founding member of Cruising Curators, a collective of curators that formed out of 11th Berlin Biennale’s Young Curators Workshop 2020.
Currently they are interested in different migration trajectories from Southeast Asia to the divided Germany. On the “East” side of the wall, they have researched on especially Cambodian art/design students who were delegated to study and remain exiled in the GDR. This features, for example, Song Hak Ky (1951-2000) - whose work and biography has been curated for Echoes of Brother Countries at HKW Berlin (2024). With Phuong Phan, the project Where is my karaoke? further explores social realities of these migrants - now including the Vietnamese contract workers and Laos students. It took shape as an exhibition at D21 Project Space Leipzig (2022) and Museum of visual arts MDBK (2023)
On the other side in FRG (Federal Republic Germany), they collaborate with Thai and Filipina women (and transwomen) who migrated as the so-called “catalogue women” (Asian wives married to European husbands). This took shape in Beyond the kitchen: Stories from the Thai Park at Villa Oppenheim (2020), and In nobody’s service at Galerie Wedding Berlin (2024).
Their recent exhibition Young Birds From Strange Mountains (2025) at Schwules Museum brings together young queer artists, their spiritual practices and non-Western knowledge from Southeast Asia and diaspora. It deals with archival materials from across the region and collection of Schwules Museum itself, such as Thai erotic magazines from 1990s, or Gaya Nusantara from Indonesia. It’s a collaboration with Hanoi Queer Museum and Indonesian Queer Archive, and more.
For public programs, they curated the intervention Forgetting Thailand at exhibition Nation, Narration, Narcosis of Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum of Contemporary Arts (2022). With collective Cruising Curators, they co-curate the 2-years program Dissident Paths (2025-26) at nGbK, focusing on walking and public intervention as research methods.
Additionally they work as a film programmer at Short Film Festival Hamburg, XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin and Sinema Transtopia. This includes some programs at Sinema such as Imagining Queer Bandung (2021 with Popo Fan and Ragil Huda) workshop series and un.thai.tled Film Festival Berlin (with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, 2020, 2021, 2023) at Sinema Transtopia.
Their short documentary films deal with intimacies and structures of Berlin queer kinship, sociality and collectivitiy. These are Sonic Reverbs (2022 - which won Xposed Short Film Fund 2020), I Am Not Your Mother (2020) or Soy Sauce (2020) have been screened internationally. I don’t want to be just memory (2024 - won the Dok.Composition Award at Dokfest Munich 2022 and NEBULAE Award to represent German film project at DocLisboa 2022) has its world premiere at 74th Berlinale Forum Expanded 2024. It has been screened internationally at 68th BFI London Film Festival, 41st Kassel Documentary, 38th European Media Arts, Queer Lisboa, for example.
They also worked on and edited various music videos, online contents and short films such as Hundefreund (2022), nominated for National German Short Film Award.
They have published articles and released podcasts and radio shows in various medias. Archive Books has published two readers from HKW, which include their text on migrant communities in the GDR and community-based film practices. Their contributions appeared on Cashmere Radio, Re:publica Berlin, for example.
photo by Kantatach Kijtikhun
(with the DOP Julian Curico of I don’t want to be just a memory - Photo by Ceren Saner)
(Curator’s opening speech at Schwules Museum, 2024 - with Hai Nam Nguyen, Ragil Huda, Ferdiansyah Thajib, and Thao Ho)
(Open-air screening by XPOSED Queer Film Festival)
(Screening at Sinema Transtopia)
Education Institutions
- Freie Universität Berlin (2016-2021)
Filmwissenschaft (Cinema Studies) & Literaturwissenschaft (Literature Studies),
Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities
- Chulalongkorn University (2010-2014)
Industrial Design, Faculty of Architecture
Attended Workshops
- Artist for artist (AFA) Masterclass 2022 “Language is never on the ground” (selected)
- The Whole Life Academy 2021-22 of HKW “Archive of 11th Hour” (selected)
- Young Curators Workshop at Berlin Biennale 2020 (selected)
Appointed Positions
- Jury for Lichter ArtAward at Lichter Frankfurt Film Festival 2025
- Jury for Lily Awards at MIX CPH Copenhagen LGBT FilmFestival 2024
- Jury for LUCA (Gender Diversity) Awards at Filmfest Dresden 2024
- Jury for all competitions at London Short Film Festival 2024
- Jury for video arts selection at Kino Kiosk (Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien) 2023
- Mentor at Berlin Programs for Artists 2023
- Mentor at Camp Queer Cinema In The Mountains (organized by Critical Queer Solidarity Berlin)
- Jury for international competition at Fantoche Swiss Animation Film Festival 2022
- Mentor at Imaging Queer Bandung Filmmaking Workshop 2021 and un.thai.tled Filmmaking Workshop (with Pimpaka Towira) 2020
CURATORIAL PRACTICES (selected)
(2025)
[Exhibition] Young Birds From Strange Mountains
- at Schwules Museum
[Performance Program] Dissident Paths (as part of collective Cruising Curators)
- at nGbK Berlin
(2024)
[Exhibition] In nobody’s service
- at Galerie Wedding
[Exhibition] Archive section at Echoes of the Brother Countries
- at House of world cultures (HKW)
(Publication can be ordered at Archive Books)
(2023)
[Film program] Restart: Transtopia
“What’s your name again?” Short films on transtopian spaces
- with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Discourse program] “Can Buddha be loved?“
Workshop, film screening, talk on queer/feminist views in Buddhism
at Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum Cologne
(2022)
[Conference with film screenings - as assistant curator, project coordinator]
“Cinema of commoning”
- with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Research, exhibition, events - as co-curator]
“Where is my karaoke? Still, we sing”
- with space D21, Leipzig
[Music festival with film screenings and panels - as co-curator]
“Celestial Festival”
- with Yeoja Magazine, Berlin
[One-day intervention show - as curator]
“Forgetting Thailand”
- at “Nation, Narration, Narcosis” of Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum For Contemporarry Arts, Berlin
(2021)
[Film programme with discussions - as co-curator]
“Common Cold: un.thai.tled Film Festival 2021”
- with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Film programme with discussions - as part of group curators]
“Critical Conditions”
- with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Film programme]
Far East Section: Shorts from Thailand
- with Soda Films/Festival Al Este, Peru
[Film programme with discussions and performances, Filmmaking, Podcasting workshop - as co-curator]
“Imagining Queer Bandung” (June-Aug 2021)
- with bi’bak and Queer Asia (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Festival programme, Digital performances and discussions - as co-curator]
“Non Native Native Fair” (June 2021)
- with Non Native Native, Amsterdam
(2020)
[Film programme, Film workshop and discussions - as co-curator ]
“un.thai.tled Film Festival & un.thai.tled Filmworkshop for young BPOCs 2020” (Sep-Oct 2020)
- with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Film programme and discussion - as part of group curators]
“Restart: Sinema” (Sep 2020) - with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)
[Exhibition, archive research and publication - as co-curator]
“Beyond the kitchen: Stories of Thai Park” (March-July 2020)
- with/at district museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf in der Villa Oppenheim, Berlin
(2019)
[Exhibition, film programme and public intervention - as curator ]
Thai Film Screenings Berlin 2019 at Kino Moviemento, Berlin
Thai Evening in Berlin 2019 at Schalet, Berlin
- Kick-off events of un.thai.tled collective (June-Aug 2019)
FILMOGRAPHY (selected)
(2024)
I don’t want to be just a memory (Short Film) / Nordic Media House, as Producer, Director, Editor
(2022)
Hundefreund (Short Film), as Editor - In Festival Phase
Get Out (Music video for AKA Kelz), as Editor
Sonic Reverbs (Short Film), as Producer, Director, DOP, Editor
(2021)
Lemons (Music video for Michael Loves Michael), as Co-Director, DOP
Sad Legend (Music video for Asllan), as Director, Editor
(2020)
I Am Not Your Mother (Video Installation/Short Film), as Producer, Director, DOP, Editor
Liberty & Death (Music video for ASLAN), as Producer, Director, Editor
Nước tương/Soy Sauce (Short Film), as Producer, Director, Script, Editor
(2019)
Fifty Three (Music video for Alex’s Hand), as Director, DOP, Editor
Kitchen Heroine (Video Clip/Short Film), as Producer, DOP, Editor, Colorist - Director : Wisanu Phu-artdun (Bauhaus University)
Whiskey Store (Music Video), as Director Assistant - Director : Klaus Salminen (Nordic Media House)
Tea Time: Ethics of Design (Promo Clip), as Gaffer - Director : Ben Mergelsberg (Wrangelfilms)
(2018)
Kannst du mein Kangaroo sein? (Music video for Erik Leuthäuser), as Director, Script, Editor, Color
SEEN (Video installation by Pierre Depaz & Salber Lee Williams) , as Videographer
Yesterday still lies between the floorboards (Music video for Erik Leuthäuser & Arta Jekabsone), as Director, Script, DOP, Editor, Color
Eily Tham Portrait (Instagram Clip for ConverseGenX for Converse Thailand), as Videographer
(2017)
Love (Fashion Film), as Director Assistant, Gaffer, Editor - Director : Wisanu Phu-artdun (Bauhaus University)
It doesn’t suit me (Fashion Film, Collaboration with Nicole J. Waller), as Director, Script, Editor, Color
︎ Canadian Fashion Film Festival 2018, Miami Fashion Film Festival 2018
(2016)
SM-Les Sadiques (Feature Film), as Director Assistant - Director : Alexander Bakshaev
Fremde (Short Film), as Extra- Director ; Tim Dünschede, Producer : Patrick Schorn (Friendship Films)
(2015)
Clever boy, this country needs you (Short Film), as Director, Script, DOP, Editor
(2014)
Piece of me (Short Film), as Script, Director Assistant - Director: Thanchanok Thamja
Piece of hat (Short Film), as Script, Co-Director - Director: Thanchanok Thamja