On October 9^th, 2021, the Royal Thai Consulate-General, Los Angeles, together with National Geographic Documentary Films organized a screening of “The Rescue” exclusively for invited 150 distinguished guests and Thai Community in Los Angeles. 

“The Rescue” is a documentary film produced by National Geographic and directed by Ms. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Mr. Jimmy Chin, Oscar winning directors from “Free Solo” in 2019, revealing an incredible story of the mission to rescue 13 lives of Wild Boar Academy football team out from the flooded Tham-Luang Cave in Northern Thailand in 2018. The story was told from the perspective of the rescue teams on the scene, both Thai and foreign, stressing an important message that strong cooperation and dedication of people from different countries, languages, and cultures can make the impossible possible.

In this occasion, Ambassador Mungkorn Pratoomkaew, congratulated the film production crew for successfully making and retelling the impressive story of the cave rescue mission, as well as expressed his gratitude to the National Geographic team for co-organizing the special screening with the Royal Thai Consulate.

After the screening, the film production crew and rescuers namely Mr. Jimmy Chin, Co-director, Mr. Thanet Natisri, a Thai expert in groundwater management who played a pivotal role in diverting stream of floods away from the cave during the rescue mission and Executive Producer of the film, Colonel Singhanart Losuya, the Deputy Chief of Staff’s 37^th Military Circle who led the Thai army force to help with water management task, Mr. Rob Watkin, a representative from the US Air Force, and Mr. Aloe Blacc, an American singer and composer of the film’s theme song “Believe”. The panelists discussed and shared their experiences and comments on their roles in the mission and in making the film. Co-director Chin shared his thoughts that the message from the film was about “cooperation”, “working in unity”, and “generosity” towards human beings which were extremely significant for the divided world of today, while Colonel Losuya stressed on the importance of “belief” in a common goal of people from different walks of life which can be turned into “hope” and “successful result” in the end.

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