Piak Poster, the pioneering Thai film poster artist and award-winning director who became a National Artist, died yesterday, September 24, marking the end of a career spanning more than four decades in Thai cinema.
The Facebook page Darapappayon announced that Piak, whose real name was Somboonsuk Niyomsiri, died peacefully of old age at 1.15pm.
He was 93 and had received the National Artist honour in performing arts, specialising in film and television drama, in 2015.
Born on October 18, 1932, in Chiang Mai, he began his career in 1953 as an artist at Paiboon Karn Chang, producing advertising signs and magazine covers.
He later began painting large cinema advertising displays using poster paint, distinguishing his work from other artists who used oil paints.
The technique led to commissions for cinema posters and established him as one of the pioneers of poster-paint illustration in Thailand’s film industry.
In his early career, he signed his movie posters simply as Piak. As his reputation grew, he adopted the nickname Piak Poster.
ThaiPBS reported that his work appeared on posters for numerous Thai films during the 16mm era, including Lep Khrut, Saengsun, Thanu Thong and Suea Lueang. His painting style also influenced younger poster artists, including Tongdee Panumas and Banhan Sitaphong.
In 1968, Piak joined friends in launching Daraphap, a magazine devoted to Thai cinema. Having regularly visited film sets to photograph actors and gather information for his cinema posters, he took responsibility for the magazine’s production-related information and photographs of film stars.
He also wrote a column called Ngao Chittrakon, in which he taught readers drawing techniques.
His move into filmmaking came after the magazine’s team received encouragement from film fans to produce a movie. Piak agreed to direct, but insisted that the production should move beyond the 16mm format commonly used at the time.
He and his colleagues wanted to make a 35mm film with sound recorded on the film itself. To prepare, he spent four months training and observing production techniques at Daiei Film in Japan.
After returning to Thailand, he began shooting his directorial debut, Tone. The film opened at Chalerm Thai Cinema in August 1970 and achieved greater success than expected, with a different storytelling approach and production style that offered greater realism than contemporary 16mm films.
Piak directed films for 26 years, with his final directorial work, Bin Laek, released in 1995. He then stepped away from directing and settled at a mountain home in Pak Chong, Nakhon Ratchasima.
He later returned to the screen as an actor in the 2011 film Top Secret: Wai Roon Pan Lan, playing Uncle Thueang. His performance earned him the Best Supporting Actor award from the Bangkok Critics Assembly.
It was not his first acting role. In 1966, he appeared in a single scene as a snake catcher with a speaking part in Ngu Phi, directed by Rat Setthaphakdi.
Throughout his career, Piak received numerous honours for his work as a director, artist and actor.
In 1973–1974, Choo won the Royal Surasawadi Award for Best Film. His film Ngo Pa subsequently received the Suphannahong National Film Awards for Best Film and Best Director in 1980.
He received another Suphannahong award in 1987, winning Best Cinematography for Sarasin Bridge.
His later honours included a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 19th Critics Assembly Awards in 2010 and an honorary award at the inaugural Thai Film Directors Association Awards in 2011.
That same year, he received the Best Supporting Actor award for Top Secret: Wai Roon Pan Lan. His contributions to Thai cinema were formally recognised in 2015 when he was named a National Artist.
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