Prince Chatri Chalerm Yukol is one of Thailand’s best filmmakers. He’s also royalty. “A link between moviemaking and royalty isn’t a novelty in Thailand, it’s a tradition. Prince Chatri’s father, Prince Anusorn Mongkolgala, was a Thai cinema pioneer who apprenticed under ‘King Kong’ directors Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack when they filmed the silent docudrama ‘Chang’ in Thailand in 1927. His son studied geology and film at UCLA in the 1960s, and became friendly with classmate Francis Ford Coppola. Almost 40 years later, Coppola’s company, American Zoetrope, is presenting Chatri’s lavish battle epic to U.S. moviegoers.”