Though his latest film—Mahalai Mue Rae (The Tin Mine)—was a favorite of critics, director and producer Jira Maligool is probably more famous for the surprise hit Fan Chan (2003), which grossed B137 million, or his 2002 big-screen debut, Mekhong Full Moon Party. A pioneer in local music videos, TV commercials and films, Jira is known for using Thai images and appealing to Thai sensibilities, unlike most of his contemporaries who prefer to adopt a western look and feel. Jira is now a film producer at GTH, where he is working with young directors to create quality Thai films.

When I was young, I was different from everyone else in that I liked to watch Thai movies. Most people at that time looked down on local films, but I saw almost all of them. My friends never wanted to go with me, so I watched them alone.

Although some of the films were crap, they were fun—and they had Thai spirit. They were created for and by Thai people, after all.

MTV didn’t exist when I started making music videos. I had no idea what they were. Someone just told me that music videos were images with music. My first music video, for Piboon “Paan” Kiatkiawkaew, didn’t show him performing, and I only learned after the fact that this is what you were supposed to show.

I really liked making music videos at the time, because there was nothing to compare them to. There was no good or bad, and I could do whatever I wanted.

I like being in situations where I don’t know what will happen. This is how I feel when I travel abroad and explore a country by myself. So I don’t like to go with tours. I prefer to be tricked by a taxi driver who drives me around town and makes me pay more than I should. That kind of experience helps me see things in different ways.

Making TV commercials is the most difficult of all the things I do. It is more difficult than making music videos and films, because we have only 30 seconds to tell a story, and because our lead character is a product—not a human being.

When I started working in 1988, most local commercials copied ideas from overseas. Everything was set up to look western. My first TV commercial had western images as well, but while I was editing it, I asked myself what I was doing. These images weren’t what we saw in our country, I thought. Since then, my commercials have had a local look and feel to them.

Mekhong Full Moon Party was created for Thais. I hope that viewers left theaters believing in what they do and doing what they believe in.

I got my inspiration to make Mekhong Full Moon Party from a feature in Silapa Watthanatham magazine. It featured a debate between two people about the naga fireballs. A university instructor believed the fireball was manmade, while a physician thought it was supernatural. It was an interesting argument. Thai people are usually negative about arguments, but the magazine let two people provide different perspectives.

I produced Fan Chan because it was a great script. I believed viewers would get the story easily. People in the Thai film industry used to believe that movies centered around transvestites, kids or animals would never be successful. They believed these kinds of movies were cursed. But GTH broke the spell. Iron Lady and Fan Chan were successful. We don’t have plans for an animal movie yet, though.

I have no plans to go international with my movies. I would love to do it, but I don’t think I could make it. The audience would be totally different. If a movie needed 10 criteria to become successful internationally, I think I could get only one right.

Though The Tin Mine didn’t make a lot of money, I was satisfied with it. And I was proud to know the author of the book it was based on, Archin Panjabhan. It was a great moment for me to meet him in person. I have liked Mahalai Muang Rae since I was young and never thought I would actually get to meet him.