Thanit Jitnukul combats teenage drug use in Samchuk

I've kind of lost track of what all Bang Rajan director Thanit Jitnukul has been up to since he made his big historical battle epic way back in 2000.

Okay, well, he made the first Art of the Devil film, had a hand in the Black Night Pan-Asian horror omnibus at Five Star, did the pirates and kids movie Salad Ta Diew at Sahamongkol and did RS Film's flyboy drama First Flight. That's not everything the prolific veteran filmmaker has been doing, but it's quite a lot. He's all over the place, doing a bit of everything. Comedies (Andaman Girl), horror (Hell), comedy-horror (Ghost-in-Law), crime drama (Bangkok Robbery). He's done them all.

His new project is a rare social drama for the Thai film industry. Due out on August 6, it's called Samchuk (สามชุก) and is produced by Pacific Island Film.

Based on a true story, it's about seven teenage schoolboys who turn to drug use as a means of escape in their rural district of Samchuk. A teacher is concerned about the problem and comes up with a way of giving the boys a chance to prove themselves.

The English title was to be Once in a Chance, but that was dropped, either for being too cheesy pie or just not making sense. Thank goodness. Samchuk, also the name of a famous market, works as an English title too.

Deknang has its usual page of info and images, with some nice-looking posters, and there's a thread on Popcornmag.

There's also an official website with a teaser embedded.