3 Inspirations Behind Mudee’s Journey to Taklee Genesis

Taklee Genesis is a film born from an outpouring of ideas that director Madiew Chookiat Sakveerakul has been recording for 20 years — ideas that build on inspirations nurtured in him since childhood, culminating in the epic, career-defining work of his life.

Ramasun Camp and the Vietnam War

One of the starting points of director Mudee-Chookiat Sakveerakul’s inspiration was stumbling upon Ramasun Camp in Udon Thani province, which led him to piece together the ideas he had with the historical information about this site. In 1964, the U.S. military contacted local villagers to purchase a vacant rice field spanning 800 rai, 3 ngan and 23 square wah, to build a permanent base for the army, including structures such as a “radar station” for communicating with various units across Southeast Asia. It was considered the largest station in the region and one of only 7 in the world, so it was called the 7th Radio Research Field Station (7th RRFS), or Ramasun Station. Villagers in the area called Ramasun Camp “Khok Chang” (elephant pen), because passersby would see as many as 48 signal towers lined up around the radar station, resembling an elephant pen.

In addition, inside the radar station there was also an underground tunnel roughly 300 metres long, believed to have been used to move communications equipment while evading the opposing side, connecting to another building. In 1976, after the end of the Vietnam War and America’s defeat, the U.S. military removed all the equipment and documents from the site, leaving no evidence behind except the buildings themselves — giving rise to countless conspiracy theories that eventually became the idea behind Taklee Genesis.

Tuay ’Tune

Mudee has loved reading books and magazines since childhood, and one of the things that shaped his interests was Tuay ’Tune and Tuay ’Tune Special, magazines more than 50 years old (and still published today). Their content brings together articles from various columnists on science, history, prehistoric animals, beliefs and mysteries — a major influence that helped Mudee grow up with broad knowledge and imagination. Mudee blended all these elements of Tuay ’Tune together, and traces of all of them can be seen throughout Taklee Genesis.

Quantum Physics

In Mudee’s definition of a sci-fi, or science fiction, film, it means taking a scientific theory as the core on which to build a story into a piece of literature — or you could call it a work adapted from scientific principles. Mudee’s interest began with quantum physics, in an attempt to understand the smallest things that let us access new knowledge, alongside something as vast as the universe and the wonder of time — eventually becoming the starting point of Mudee’s far-reaching vision in Taklee Genesis.

And these three things are the key inspirations behind Taklee Genesis, an epic journey at faster-than-light speed that must be experienced in cinemas only.

Let the light guide you, from 12 September.

Watch the trailer | https://shorturl.at/AeXc6