“We can be heroes just for one day”

Followed by a talk with Wattanapume Laisuwanchai (วรรจธนภูมิ ลายสุวรรณชัย) and the protagonists of the film (with Thai-English translation)

แร็ปทะลุฝ้า ราชาไม่หยุดฝัน School Town King
วรรจธนภูมิ ลายสุวรรณชัย Wattanapume Laisuwanchai, Thailand 2020, 120 min.

School Town King tells the story of two boys from the Klong Toey slums in Bangkok who share their experiences through rap. At a time when the COVID pandemic accelerates and intensifies extreme social inequality – something that has been and still is the backbone of Thai society – this film arrives at a key moment. Rather than falling into the obvious but ultimately degrading victimhood narrative, one that disregards the structural shaping of individual lives and which leaves no space for individual agency, this layered documentary takes another route. It is an attempt at a curious, intimate and empathetic way of storytelling that is reminiscent of a rap video.

Wattanapume Laisuwanchai (วรรจธนภูมิ ลายสุวรรณชัย) is one of the two co-founders of Eyedropper Fill, an experience-based design company, and a filmmaker based in Bangkok. His short films such as Passing Through the Night (2011) and feature films such as Phantom of Illumination (2017) have been screened at Venice, Clermont-Ferrand, Singapore (SGIFF) and Busan International Film Festival.