In his TPG Award receiving in Tokyo.

While his long-awaited film Queen of Lungsaka is being in the final post-production stage and scheduled to be released on 6 March, Nonzee Nimitbutr's Thai-Japanese co-production project Just as Chao Phraya River Flows is in the line of preparations. During these months, his Japanese producer, the representative of Japanese Society of Cinematographers kept visiting Thailand and negotiating with possible investors.

Just as Chao Phraya River Flows, aka in Thai working title The Day When Sakura Blooms, is the cross-cultural lovestory and mutual understanding between two generations of Thai-Japanese couples. The elderly couple portrays the final stage of Shiro's life (a Japanese man) who is married to a Thai woman Wan and moved to live in the countryside. One day, Shiro begins to repeat some words over and over in Japanese, which he had not said for several decades. In order to communicate with her husband, Wan asks a young Thai girl Miu who can speak Japanese to help them. Wan and Miu decide to set off for Japan to pursue the mystery surrounding Shiro's memories of his past. In Japan Wan is confronted with new revelations and Miu encounters Shin, a young Japanese man.

Nonzee was approached for the co-production by the Japanese Society of Cinematographers several months ago. The project was listed as one of the Tokyo Project Gathering, a market sidebar in Tokyo International Film Festival in October, and won the first TPG Award.

Remember her: Robin William's Vietnamese hearthrob starring Jintara Sukphat in Good Morning Vietnam and the strict but sensitive Khru Pranee in Dorm

During the presentation, Thai producer Apichana Leenanond also cited Jintara Sukphat to take the role of Wan (the strict but sensitive teacher from Dorm and Robin Williams's heartthrob in Good Morning Vietnam) and Apinya Sakulcharoensuk as Miu (a young girl from Ploy). Jintara used to be wellknown in Japan, and was the only Thai star who was invited to be a jury member for Tokyo International Film Festival (around 1994 - 1996).

Thai producer (Apichana Leelanond) and Japanese producer ( Japanese Society of Cinematographers)

In Tokyo, Nonzee said he would start this project right after Queen of Lungsaka. But Nonzee also had another Thai-Singaporean horror Toyol (to be produced by leading Singaporean director-cum-producer Eric Khoo). According to him, Toyol has still been in the script development process. He wants to do something different as 'there are too many horror films in Thailand today.'

Nonzee is known as a starter of New Thai Cinema in 1997 and a booster of present horror film. To some extent, Nonzee's second feature Nang Nak brought the local popular genre into the mainstream hits in 1999. Before then, horror films were mainly welcome in the B-grade markets, which had normally been limited released in open-air or provincial theatres.

note: Apologize for many mistakes. I don't have time for the rewriting, due to the present work loads.