utamachote
ษาณฑ์ อุตมโชติ
“Because I am human”



cultural producer/
film director /
curator

- based in berlin

Sarnt Utamachote © 2024
/ 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. This includes the recent research-based exhibition Where is my karaoke? Still, we sing (2022) in Leipzig, Beyond the kitchen: Stories from the Thai Park (2020), and the annual Celestial Festival in Berlin. Their short films such as Sonic Reverbs (2022), I Am Not Your Mother (2020) or Soy Sauce (2020) have been screened internationally. Currently they work as a part of selection commitees at Short Film Festival Hamburg and Xposed Queer Film Festival Berlin (2022-).

This includes other projects such as symposium and international cinema joint-project “Cinema of commoning” (2022) at Sinema Transtopia (and 8 other cities around the world), the intervention “Forgetting Thailand” (2022) at exhibition “Nation, Narration, Narcosis” (curated by Anna-Catharina Gebbers) Hamburger Bahnhof: Museum of Contemporary Arts, 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 are the selected alumni of Young Curators Workshop of 11th Berlin Biennale (2020), and Whole Life Academy Workshops on Archive Methods (2021) at HKW Berlin, and AFA Masterclass 2022.

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.

Their future short film (currently in financing) “I don’t want to be just a memory” won the Dok.Composition Award at Dokfest Munich 2022 and NEBULAE Award to represent German film projects at DocLisboa 2022.


 
photo by Kantatach Kijtikhun

“Because I am human”



I believe artists must have manifesto;
and mine is currently in the state of making



(Curator’s talk with Phuong Phan at D21 Project Space Leipzig)
(Jury for short films competition 2024 at London Short Film Festival)


 Education Institutions


- Freie Universität Berlin (2016-2021)
     Filmwissenschaft (Cinema Studies) &
     Literaturwissenschaft (Literature Studies),
     Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities

     Topic: “Vertikale Liminalität und mediales (Nach)Leben während de Finanzkrise im süd-ostasiatishen Kino”

- Chulalongkorn University (2010-2014)
   Industrial Design, Faculty of Architecture

     Topic: “Performative Jewelry-Design for queer Bodies “


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 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
- Selection committee at Hamburg Short Film Festival 2022/23
- Selection committee at Xposed Queer Film Festival Berlin 2022/23
- Mentor at Imaging Queer Bandung Filmmaking Workshop 2021 and un.thai.tled Filmmaking Workshop (with Pimpaka Towira) 2020


   

CURATORIAL PRACTICES (selected)


(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





Mark

PUBLISHED ARTICLES







TALKS/LECTURES



(2022)
Radio interview (EN) on underground creative scenes in Berlin, at KOX Radio (Klub Ostkreuz) Berlin

Radio program (DE) on “Where is my karaoke? Still, we sing” at Sphere Radio Leipzig

Interview (DE) on Xposed Queer Film Festival 2022, at Siegessäule Magazine

Talk (EN) at Book Launch “Revisualizing Intersectionality”, at Humboldt University Berlin

Talk (DE) “Postkolonialismus: Koloniale Kontinuitäten bekämpfen”, at Urania Berlin

Talk (EN) “How to build transnational cinema and relationships?”, at Sinema Transtopia Berlin

(2021)
Editor of Tools To Transform: Workbook for Asian diasporic orrganisations in Europe (EN)

Talk (DE) “Der Phönix”, at Bin ich süßsauer Podcast, Berlin/Köln

Talk (EN) Diaspora <> War <> Tourism Complex, Thai Identity and Postcolonial History, at Sugar Nutmeg Podcast, New York

Talk (EN), at Filmclub: The Tourist and the Migrant - with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan,
by Phoebe Pua at National University Singapore Museum 2021

(2020)
Talk (EN) on Thai Food, Identity and Thai Park - with Rosalia Namsai Engchuan, at #Mygration Festival 2020

Interview (DE) at Asian German Festival 2020 by Korientation Berlin

Panel Discussion “On Gendering” with Tanu Gago, Asefina van Ast and Wang Shui

(2019)
Seeing Color Episode 35 (EN), Podcast by Zhiwan Cheung

Guide to Thai creatives, projects and places in Berlin, by I-Heart-Berlin

︎Workshop “Asian Masculinities”, by Korientation Berlin

(2018)
Interview for IndieBerlin “Immersion”