sarnt

/ film director - editor

/ production manager - project manager

/ curator and researcher

/ founder - president of collective 

     

Sarnt Utamachote (ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ) is a Southeast Asian nonbinary filmmaker and curator based in Berlin. They are a co-founder of un.thai.tled, an artist collective from the German-Thai diaspora, and curated many film events and exhibitions regarding postcolonial histories, Southeast Asian diaspora and activism.

Regarding their research in migration trajectories to West/East Germany, they have curated many research-based exhibitions such as  Where is my karaoke? (2022 in D21 Leipzig; 2023 in Museum of visual arts Leipzig MDBK, 2024 in House of world cultures HKW Berlin) on the Vietnamese, Laos and Cambodian migrants in GDR (German Democratic Republic). On the other side in FRG (Federal Republic Germany), stories of sexualized Thai and Filipina women are found in Beyond the kitchen: Stories from the Thai Park (2020 in district museum Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf), and In nobody’s service (2024 in Galerie Wedding Berlin). They curated  the intervention “Forgetting Thailand” (2022) at exhibition “Nation, Narration, Narcosis” (curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers) Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum of Contemporary Arts.

Their short documentary films deal with intimacies and structures of Berlin queer kinship, sociality and collectivitiy. These are Sonic Reverbs (2022), 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 projects at DocLisboa 2022. It has its world premiere at 74th Berlinale Forum Expanded. 

Currently they work as a film programmer at Short Film Festival Hamburg, Xposed Queer Film Festival Berlin (2022-) and Sinema Transtopia. This includes other cinema-related projects such as symposium and international cinema joint-project “Cinema of commoning” (2022) at Sinema Transtopia (and 8 other cities around the world), “Imagining Queer Bandung” (with Popo Fan and Ragil Huda, 2021) workshop series and “un.thai.tled Film Festival Berlin” (with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, 2019-now) at Sinema Transtopia Berlin.

They also worked on and edited various music videos, online contents and short films such as Hundefreund (2022), which was nominated for National German Short Film Award 2022.

 
photo by Kantatach Kijtikhun

“Because I am human”

(Curator’s talk with Phuong Phan at D21 Project Space Leipzig)


(with the DOP Julian Curico of I don’t want to be just a memory - Photo by Ceren Saner)

 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

- (Annual) Programmer/selection committee of international competittion at Hamburg Short Film Festival and XPOSED Queer Film Festival Berlin

- Jury for LUCA (Gender Diversity) Awards at Filmfest Dresden 2024
- Jury for Inter- and national Competition at London Short Film Festival 2024
- Jury for video arts selection at Kino Kiosk (Kunstraum Kreuzberg Bethanien) 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)

(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 programme] Restart: Transtopia
“What’s your name again?” Short films on transtopian spaces
- with bi’bak (at Sinema Transtopia, Berlin)

[Discourse programme] “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 - In Festival Phase

(2021)
Lemons (Music video for Michael Loves Michael), as Co-Director, DOP - In Postproduction
Sad Legend (Music video for Asllan), as Director, Editor

(2020)
I Am Not Your Mother (Video Installation/Short Film), as Producer, Director, DOP, Editor
︎ “Sacred Beings” programm at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020, Interface Video Festival Zagreb 2020, Nominated for “R.D. Pestonji Award” at Thai Short Film and Video Festival Bangkok 2020, Hive Film Days Neukolln Berlin 2021
Liberty & Death (Music video for ASLAN), as Producer, Director, Editor
Nước tương/Soy Sauce (Short Film), as Producer, Director, Script, Editor
︎ OutFest Fusion Queer Film Festival Los Angeles 2021, Reelout: Kingston’s Queer Film Festival 2021, Papaya Rocks Film Festival London 2021, Changing Perspectives Film Festival Istanbul 2021, Seoul Queer Culture Festival 2021, Xposed Queer Film Festival Berlin 2021, Queer East Film Festival London 2021, Queer Munich Film Festival 2021

(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)
Winter Rain (Poetry video for Alex Wolf), as Director, Script, DOP, Editor, Color
Deep Talk (Music video for Coco Elane), as Director, Script, Editor, Color
︎ Winner “Best Feminist Shorts” Bucharest Film Awards 2018
Kannst du mein Kangaroo sein? (Music video for Erik Leuthäuser), as Director, Script, Editor, Color
︎ Bucharest Film Awards 2018
Rhino (Trailer for theatre by Salber Lee Williams), as Videographer
Escape from the devil (Music video for Henning Richter), as Producer, 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
︎ ShortCuts Cinefest Bucharest 2018
Exposed (Fashion Film), as Gaffer - Director : Leonor von Salisch (XO Berlin)
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