On May 22, 185 Films, an independent film company, announced that A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ), the debut feature by Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, has won the AMI Paris Grand Prize, the top award of the Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week) at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
The director dedicated the award to “all ghosts in Thailand,” hoping the film would bring more visibility and voice to them, whether useful or not.
The story follows March, a grieving man whose wife Nat dies from dust pollution. Her spirit returns by inhabiting a vacuum cleaner, while other spirits disturb his family's factory. As tensions rise, Nat proposes to prove her usefulness by exorcising the disruptive ghosts, challenging societal norms on the human-ghost coexistence.
The cast includes Arpasiri Nitibhon, Wisarut Himarat, and Wallop Rungkamjad. The film is produced by Kathleeya Paosrijareon and Solos Sukhum of 185 Films, in collaboration with Kliff Capital, Cinema22, N8, New Narratives, and TSixtySix, with co-production partners from France (Haut les Mains) and Singapore (Momo Film Co), and global funding support.