Thailand, in fact, has been making animated movies for about three decades, but the industry had faded until recent years. And then came the critically acclaimed "Khan Kluay".

One of the key players in Thai animation circles is Khon Kaen-based VCM Studio, which wants to show Isaan cartoons to the world.

Winichai Saengkla has been producing animated cartoons for the studio for several years, but they generally were not well known here. In 2003, Winichai sold the copyright of his first animated movie, "Black Magic Woman", an undersea tale, to Singaporean distributor Racoh, which then distributed it around the world,

bringing fame to VCM Studio.

Despite overseas recognition, Thailand came to know Winichai only this year, when his 2D animation "Phra Vessandorn" made it to the final eight in a national animation contest, hosted by the Software Industry Promotion Agency, which carried a Bt1-million prize.

Before pouring his creative energies into animation, Winichai had for several years been making documentaries for Channel 11 in Khon Kaen. That came to an end because of the unstable nature of the industry. So he set to making music videos and VCD movies.

Winichai turned his attention to animation when one of his bosses took note of the simple but effective drawings produced by his 10-year-old son. He suggested Winichai should think about producing cartoons for what was then basically a dormant market.

With no previous animation background, Winichai studied on his own and launched his first piece, "Black Magic Woman". He kept domestic copyright and distribution, but sold the overseas rights to Racoh.

"The market was good and we wanted to improve, so we joined with Khon Kaen University's E-SAAN Software Park and pushed for the establishment of the Animation Multimedia Innovation Centre. We then made 'Phra Vessandorn'."

Winichai believes Thai animation has a big future as there are few people involved in the business and the overseas demand is high.

Even now, VCM Studio has a problem in finding enough skilled people to handle the volume of work as orders pour in. It requires many people to draw, edit, record and so on, and so even simple animations can cost Bt500,000.

"Phra Vessandorn" cost Bt1.5 million, he said, and took the team six months to adapt as a screenplay. An adaptation of one of the Lord Buddha's 10 most important previous-life stories, the six-song cartoon took a further year to make it to VCD. Racoh is now negotiating to buy the distribution rights to "Phra Vessandorn" for Bt750,000.

Winichai plans to turn the tragic Sakhon Nakhon folktale of a love triangle, "Phadaeng-Nang Ai", into a cartoon, as well as other Thai Buddhist folktales, including "Ramayana", "Somdet Chao Taengmo", "Phraya Pichai Darbhak" and "Singha Kraipob".

Buddhist animations are marketable in Asia as well as other Buddhist centres around the world.

He wants the government to help in marketing and finding buyers because he has experienced people trying to take advantage when VCM Studio has negotiated alone.

"We can produce but we are not good at marketing," he said, adding that he was trying to join shows and exhibitions such as the Bangkok International ICT Expo 2006, which ends tomorrow at Muang Thong Thani.

"Thailand's reputation on the international stage has improved, especially since "Khan Kluay" opened a lot of doors for us," he said.

Sumalee Phopayak

The Nation