Big Talk: Sayombhu Mukdeeprom

“My principle is that I cooperate with people, I let things happen, I go by the environment,” says Thai cameraman Sayombhu Mukdeeprom (1970) about his method. This has led to a natural style of filming and lighting, as well as very tactile films that seem more than merely visual.

Mukdeeprom debuted as a cameraman with Mysterious Object at Noon by his compatriot Apichatpong Weerasethakul, for whom he has since shot almost everything, right the way through to the most recent film Memoria, which is set for release in the Netherlands later this year. In 2015, he expanded internationally with the epic trilogy Arabian Nights by Portuguese director Miguel Gomes. In recent years, he has developed a new, very fertile cooperation with Italian Luca Guadagnino, with whom Mukdeeprom shot Call Me By Your Name and Suspiria.

After Mexican director of photography Diego García in 2020 and American director Kelly Reichardt in 2021, Mukdeeprom is the third winner of the Robby Müller Award, set up in memory of the legendary Dutch cameraman. The prize is awarded annually to an imagemaker who, analogous to Müller, has developed an authentic, believable, moving visual language. Cameraman Joris Bulstra, a member of the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers, will talk to Mukdeeprom about his cinematic language, structural choices, and his relationship vis-à-vis Robby Müller.

In collaboration with the Netherlands Society of Cinematographers.

This Big Talk is available worldwide from Thu 3 February, 19:00 via IFFR.com