DOI BOY
A FILM BY NONTAWAT NUMBENCHAPOL
PRODUCTION GRANT - Fall 2017
Doi Boy follows Sorn, a 21 year old heterosexual Shan boy, who goes on a journey from being a Shan soldier to becoming a gay prostitute masseuse in Chiang Mai. With ongoing fighting between the Burmese and the Shan people, Sorn escapes to Chiang Mai with his little brother in hopes for a better life. He meets a group of other Shan boys, who introduce him to sex work. Sorn imagines a future by projecting himself in his clients’ lives as they share their stories in bed. But Sorn confronts his past with his friends through flashbacks on the doi, where everybody must become a soldier and where he can’t return because he would be jailed for deserting the military. Throughout the film, Sorn sees his identity only through the lives of others, but finally accepts his situation so his brother can dream for a future he could never have.