Surapong Pinijkhar
The Thai director was born in Bangkok and became fascinated with astronomy as a student at Chulalongkorn University. He studied media and journalism at Bangkok University and one day, while volunteering at a camp, he grabbed an 8mm camera to shoot two lumps of clay fighting each other. after that he was hired to make a short stop-motion animation that opened a television show for Ajinomoto Lime Seasoning Powder. Upon discovering this opportunity, he aimed to make a short documentary film on 16mm film, hoping to win prizes and continue working with his fellow creative partner, Dom Sukvongse (who later became the founder/director of the National Film Archive of Thailand, the first person to hold this position in the country). They collaborated to create the film "! อัศเจรีย์" or "! EXCLAMATION" (1976).