Rattana Pestonji
Thai film director (1908-1970)
Rattana Pestonji (Thai: รัตน์ เปสตันยี; RTGS: Rat Pesatanyi) was a Thai film director, producer, screenwriter and cinematographer and is regarded as the father of contemporary Thai film. Although his filmography was brief, his films placed Thai cinema on the world stage. He also pushed for innovations, and was one of the first Thai directors to use 35-mm film. He died just as he was giving a speech to government officials to call for support of a domestic industry he saw as coming under threat from Hollywood films.
Biography
Early life
He was born Rattan Pestonji (also sometimes referred to as R. D. Pestonji or Ratt Pestonji) in Bangkok, to an Indian Parsi family. At an early age, he showed an avid interest in photography. He was so adept at dismantling and reassembling his camera, that it was decided he should study engineering at the University of London.
He spent his early life studying in India and UK. Between studies in London, he was able to take photos and he picked up several awards in photographic competitions.
He returned to Thailand with an engineering degree, but continued to pursue his interest in photography and found a job as a film salesman. It was then he began to explore an art form that was still in its infancy – cinematography.
“Rattana Pestonji” enters the record as thai film director (1908-1970). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Rattana, Pestonji and Thai can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6585331. VIAF identifies the subject as 296482582. The Library of Congress control number is no2013018811. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Rattana Pestonji” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.