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Lights, camera, action. Explore Boss Kuno’s films and series on love, identity and culture through his lens.
Film has a way of staying with us long after the credits roll. Sometimes it is the visuals, the thrilling storyline or the cliffhanger ending. Other times, it is a scene, a conversation or a feeling that feels strangely familiar.
The stories that leave the deepest impression often tap into something personal. They reflect experiences we recognise, emotions we have felt or questions we continue to carry. In this way, film becomes more than entertainment. It becomes a space where people see parts of themselves and the world around them.
Naruebet “Boss” Kuno works within this space with a clear focus on character and emotion. He has worked in the industry for many years and has become one of Thailand’s most recognised directors in recent years.
Through his body of work, we explore a creative journey told through two series and one film, connected by his perspective on identity and relationships, with a focus on LGBTQ+ narratives within contemporary Thai storytelling in time to celebrate Pride Month.
Years of Storytelling and Screenwriting in Thai Entertainment
Boss has built a body of work across both writing and directing that spans more than 15 years in the Thai entertainment industry. He first gained attention as a screenwriter on Hormones: The Final Season (2015) and later as a director with Project S The Series (2017), in the Side by Side episode, which earned nominations for Best Director and Best Script (with Pattanat Phibunsawat) at the 9th Nataraja Awards. He went on to direct My Ambulance (2019), which also received a nomination for Best Director at the 11th Nataraja Awards.
Courtesy of Nadao Bangkok
Now in his 30s, he is regarded as one of Thailand’s leading young filmmakers, known for his ability to move between television and film with a strong sense of character and storytelling. His early directorial work established him as a fresh voice in Thai cinema, while his writing continues to shape some of the country’s most widely recognised series.
I Told Sunset About You (2020)
A coming-of-age story set in Phuket, shaped by longing and emotion, where Phuket becomes a cinematic landscape of identity and first love.
I Told Sunset About You (2020), a Thai coming-of-age series, became a cultural moment for its honest take on love, identity and teenage emotion. It follows Teh and Oh-aew, played by Putthipong “Billkin” Assaratanakul and Krit “PP” Amnuaydechkorn, as they navigate friendship, growing up and feelings they cannot easily name.
For Boss, it always starts with a script that feels honest, then grows into something larger on screen. The story sits close to his way of seeing the world, shaped by lived experience and what feels real. From Hat Yai to the sea, these details quietly shape the tone of the series.
The idea also grows from the pairing of Billkin and PP, first seen in My Ambulance, where audiences connected with their chemistry. That response, from both Thai and international fans, helped open the path for a story built around them.
Courtesy of Nadao Bangkok
Drawn to the sea and the layered identity of Phuket, Boss Kuno chooses the island not just as a backdrop but as a living part of the story. In I Told Sunset About You, Phuket becomes more than a location. It becomes culture, food, language and everyday life woven into the narrative.
While writing, his time spent in Phuket shapes details beyond tourism. From Hokkien noodles in local shops to the rhythm of Old Town streets, these elements build a world that connects Thai audiences and invites global viewers to explore the city and its culture more deeply.
Courtesy of Nadao Bangkok
The impact extends beyond the screen. Audiences begin travelling to follow its locations, seeing Phuket through a softer cultural lens. Even small visual details become part of how the series lives outside the story. Boss’s work reaches audiences far beyond Thailand, especially in China. The actors become cultural icons, while Phuket becomes a place people want to see for themselves. What begins on screen continues in real life.
The Paradise of Thorns (2024)
A visual language of love against injustice, where emotion meets the limits of law, set within durian farms and Thai local life.
Whatever type of love, Boss knows how to capture it beautifully. The Paradise of Thorns (2024), his first film direction, becomes a successful box office hit that brings audiences to tears and leaves a strong message behind. Released during a period following the approval of same-sex marriage in Thailand, the film stands with the movement, not loud in statement but subtle in its layers, allowing audiences to feel the heartbreak and truth of the story. Storytelling here extends past entertainment. It holds real voices, reflects society and lets love and identity exist in full view.
The film follows Thongkham (Worakamol “Jeff” Satur) and Sek (Pongsakorn Mettarikanon), a same-sex couple who build a life together in Mae Hong Son, creating a home, land and durian plantation as their shared dream.
After Sek dies suddenly, Thongkham faces a legal system that does not recognise their partnership. Everything they built falls under Sek’s mother Saeng (Seeda Puapimon), who later brings her adopted daughter Mo (Engfa Waraha) into the home. Left with no legal rights to what they built, Thongkham is forced to confront the system and fight to reclaim the life and home he and Sek had created together.
The story opens with Sek’s sudden death, after Thongkham is unable to sign medical consent for surgery because he is not legally recognised as family. From that moment, the narrative reveals the harsh reality of legal and emotional inequality at the centre of their relationship.
Beyond identity, Boss expands the story into a struggle for rights, love and ownership within an unequal system. A couple who once shared a home, land and future are separated by law, leaving Thongkham to fight for what they built together. At its core, it follows a LGBTQ+ character confronting loss and injustice in love and in the idea of belonging itself.
Visual beauty remains present throughout, with Thai cultural detail, costume and colour shaping the emotional tone. For Boss, storytelling becomes a way to question how society views family, love and fairness through cinema. The film has received multiple nominations and has won major awards including Best Director and Film of the Year.
GELBOYS (2025)
Siam Square seen through Gen Z teenagers, where frustration, missteps and miscommunication shape love and everyday Bangkok life.
After the success of The Paradise of Thorns, Boss has continued with a focus on bringing Thai storytelling to a global audience through meaningful narratives. He has also founded LOOKE, a production company dedicated to new series-driven work.
One of his latest projects, GELBOYS (2025), takes a brighter and more vibrant direction. Set in Siam Square, it follows the relationships of four young men through Gen Z pop culture. The series reflects youth identity in a way that feels open, fluid and unlabelled.
This is shown through gel nail art, everyday Bangkok spaces as backdrop and colourful graphic elements that carry a soft summer energy throughout the story. Siam Square becomes a space through the lens of Gen Z teenagers where frustration, missteps and miscommunication shape the usual rhythm of love and growing up.
Unlike earlier works, the tone shifts away from emotional intensity and instead normalises LGBTQ+ relationships within everyday romance. Love appears without separation or hierarchy, simply as part of ordinary life. Shot partly on iPhone and rooted in daily realism, the series carries closeness and familiarity while still feeling cinematic. The series earned Best Series Director at the Y Universe Awards and was nominated for various awards.
Beyond entertainment, Boss uses the work as cultural soft power. It shapes how audiences connect with Thailand through music, food, fashion and youth culture and extends both affection and curiosity toward the country.
