A finely wrought portrait of a Thai woman navigating a society in flux
Against the backdrop of a global demographic crisis, Fren, an HR employee at a major Thai corporation, conducts interviews with young recruits while grappling with her own unplanned pregnancy. Caught between societal expectations and corporate pressures, she navigates the tensions between personal fulfillment and economic realities that feel increasingly inescapable.
Human Resource offers a portrait of the working world that is as precise as it is chilling, subtly weaving in the trajectory of a woman marked by a profoundly affecting solitude. Her intimate struggles resonate with striking acuity against the societal upheavals reshaping Thailand.
“Insightful and intimate beneath its chilly, stylised surface, Thai drama Human Resource plays on the resonance of its English title: what becomes of individuals when people are treated as disposable material to fuel the machinery of the corporate world?”
Jonathan Romney Screen Daily 03/09/2025
Busan IFF 2025, 2025, kr
Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente Prize, Venice Film Festival, 2025, it
Nawapol THAMRONGRATTANARIT
Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit is a Thai filmmaker who studied at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University. He first came to critical attention with his experimental short films before making his feature debut with 36, which won the New Currents Award in Busan. Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy (2013), Heart Attack (2015), Die Tomorrow (2017) and Happy Old Year (2019) have all been screened and awarded at numerous international festivals, as has his latest film, Human Resource, which premiered in world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2025.
