Looking up, not down

"An honest, no-nonsense" and heartwarming documentary about young people living successfully with Down's syndrome is in now in theatres nationwide.

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Pattramon Sukprasert has a nice story in the Bangkok Post this morning on a movie documentary produced by Wongthanong Chainarongsingha, a publisher of A Day magazine. Entitled "The Down", it is a documentary that focuses on the life of young people with Down's syndrome and their families. You can read the full story here: http://www.bangkokpost.com/lifestyle/social-and-lifestyle/732160/looking-up-not-down

Each year, between 800-1,000 children in Thailand are born with Down's syndrome, a genetic condition associated with physical growth delays and moderate intellectual disability.

Looking up, not down

Pattramon Sukprasert

The Down features people with Down's syndrome in an honest and no-nonsense way. The five people featured are aged between 19-26, coming from various family backgrounds, each with their own successful story to tell.

Pan works in customer relations for AIS.

Most prominent is Kamonporn "Pan" Wachiramon, a 24-year-old who graduated with a bachelor's degree from Bangkok University and is now working in a customer relations department at AIS Corporation. As told in the film, her mother at first wanted to enrol her into a vocational school, thinking that it was best for someone with her condition, but Pan insisted on going to college – and she proved that she could.

The only boy in the movie is 25-year-old Sutthiphot "Bank" Kanoknak, who is working at Uniqlo. In The Down, we hear his supervisor reveal that she was initially shocked to be assigned a member of staff who had Down's syndrome. But after the training, Sutthiphot showed that he could work alongside his colleagues in the store with no problem.

Siriluck 'Beer' Chalat, hard at work.

At 26, Siriluck "Beer" Chalat is the oldest person in the film. Working as a waitress at a Starbucks, she supports her two younger brothers who are still in school, while her father works as a motorcycle taxi driver.

"Someone told me that I'm a person with special needs but I don't take it seriously," she said in the film. "I can do what others can."

Lastly, the film features students Ornipa "Aom" and Atiya "Aun" Kanjanasiri, 19-year-old twins raised by a single mum. One of the best lines in The Down comes from her.

"When I look at the twins, I keep telling myself that I cannot get sick, I cannot die, and I cannot have a day off," the mother says. "But since I know it's impossible, I tried my best raising them."

It took the team a year to make the movie. Wongthanong said that finding the subjects wasn't easy because some families refused to be filmed.

While the film recounts the struggles every family with a person who has Down's syndrome goes through, in all the film is a feel-good piece that aims to inspire. One common thing Wongthanong said he found in his characters was their innocence and how they managed to teach him a few lessons along the way.

Filming intellectually-disabled people is never easy. The line between championing them and exploiting them is always a fine one, especially given the way disabled people are often treated as a joke at worst and an object of sentimentalism at best in some Thai media. Wongthanong said that one of his biggest concerns was how to make the movie fun, without making fun of his characters.

"We tried to be very careful," he said. "We sought advice from experts, doctors, teachers as well as parents. One of the things we were most concerned about was the humour in the movie. We avoided presenting the jokes that felt like we were looking down on them. The giggle moments always came from cuteness and pure innocence."

Sutthiphot 'Bank' Kanokna. He finally gets his chance to be in a movie.

Wipada Sumniangpaibul, the mother of Sutthiphot, said that she was willing to let the team film her son because the movie only portrayed the routine in his daily life. She also said that she hoped the film would encourage other parents of Down's syndrome children who might never think about taking their children outside the comfort zone, or providing them with education.

"If they see that my kid can go out and do things, they might have the courage to do the same," said Wipada. "And the best part of this is that my son, who always dreamed of becoming an actor, had the chance to be in a movie. That made him so happy."

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