Innocence (2005 film)

Shot on digital video, the documentary tells the story of Prayoon Kamchai, principal of the Baan Mae Toh school in rural, mountainous Chiang Mai Province. Faced with poor families of hill tribe (mostly Karen and Hmong) subsistence farmers and rugged terrain, Prayoon sought to find a way to ensure children in his far-flung school district received a proper education. Children would often have to travel 80 to 90 kilometers on narrow, winding mountain roads, which in the rainy season became impassable, to get to school. Often, children's parents were too poor to afford tuition.

Prayoon, who asked to be assigned to the school when he started teaching in 1983, at first noticed the children had no food, so he decided to start a free lunch program. He then solved the problem of transportation by creating a boarding school and finding a way for as many children to attend as the school could accept.

The school receives a small amount of funds from the Thai government. Building supplies for the boarding school dorms were donated, and much of the building work and other improvements at the school were made by the students and teachers themselves. To supplement the small meal allowance from the government, the students raise their own vegetable crops and livestock.

Baan Mae Toh school offers classes up to Mattayom 3, or ninth grade. As a reward for graduating from the school, Prayoon arranges for the class to take a trip to the beach in Prachuap Khiri Khan Province, a trip of more than 1,000 kilometers that takes three days, by truck and bus. For all the children, it is the first time they will see the ocean. Along the way, the children stay at Buddhist temples for free to keep the cost of the journey low.

Producer-director Areeya Chumsai is a Thai-American model who was Miss Thailand Universe 1994. She then moved to Thailand permanently, became an officer in the Royal Thai Army and taught English at the army's military academy, as well as writing magazine columns and books. Co-director, principal cinematographer and editor Nisa Kongsri had worked as an assistant director, working on such films as Siam Renaissance and One Night Husband. Phanjanit Garnploog produced and edited an international version of the film. Areeya, wanting to research her idea for a film about hill tribe children, contacted Nisa for help. The two formed a partnership and developed a screenplay for Innocence, which was selected for presentation at the 2003 Pusan International Film Festival.