After every local newspaper published photos of actress Chompoo Araya attending Cannes Film Festival simply to show off dresses, the Thai ex-convict who goes by the nickname “Keng Camouflage” was a refreshing sight on the festival’s red carpet last week.
The internet personality and actor, whose real name is Panya Yimumphai, is praised on social media for “doing Thailand proud.” Unlike Chompoo Araya, who is attending the festival as an ambassador for a beauty brand, Panya’s movie “A Prayer Before Dawn,” is actually being screened at the festival.
“Keng Camouflage does Thailand proud as an actor in one of the movies screened at Cannes Film Festival. His movie received applause and praise. Before this, Cannes Film Festival was just a catwalk for Thai media,” read a popular post on the Thai Facebook page “Film Criticism.”
The drama Keng Camouflage appears in, by French director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, “A Prayer Before Dawn,” is based on the true life of Billy Moore, a British drug addict who spent three years in Khlong Prem prison and made Muay Thai an outlet for his fury.
Panya, who has nearly two million Facebook followers, has been a changed man since he was released from prison in 2011. He has been working as an extra on movie sets, DJing, and been a presenter for various supplements.
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