Tidings of good cheer

Perhaps Thailand’s warring political parties could learn a thing or two from the boundless enthusiasm of “The Cheer Ambassadors”, a rousing documentary about an underdog band of plucky misfits who train hard and realise an improbable dream – representing Thailand at the world cheerleading championships.
Two years after its debut “The Cheer Ambassadors” has returned to screens in Thailand.
“We wanted to show people another side of Thailand,” says director Luke CassadyDorion, the Thaispeaking foreigner who is famous as a yoga instructor and for his “Farang PokPok” TV travel show and a Thailanguage autobiography, “Yoga Boy”. He’s well aware of the bad press Thailand has been getting lately.
“Politicians are ruining the country,” says the former software designer from San Francisco. “But here are these young people from poor backgrounds who are out there building a good image. They are the true ambassadors of Thailand.”
He lets his executive producer and longtime friend from San Francisco, Jason Best, tell how the film project started.
“We were on a beach in Phuket,” says Best. “We always loved documentaries, always loved film, and would always talk half jokingly about making a documentary.”
It was during one of those conversations that Best was introduced to Thapanont “Tae” Phithakrattanayothin, who would eventually become his movie’s producer. Asked what he was interested in, Tae responded with one word – “cheerleading”.
Tae, a dancer, explained how he was involved with the Bangkok University cheerleading squad, which had gone to the International Cheer Union championships in Orlando, Florida, in 2009 and won the silver medal.
“I was just sort of blown away,” Best says. “Before we left Phuket we’d decided we were going to make the film, though I don’t know if Tae believed it or not. You know – ‘couple of crazy foreigners’.”
What was initially planned as a threemonth project stretched into 18 months for the crew, which followed the Bangkok University team as they trained for the 2011 championships under their coach, the obsessive perfectionist Sarawut “Toey” Samniangdee. Inspired by latenight ESPN coverage of the “cheerleading Olympics”, Toey had put together the squad and relentlessly pushed them until they shared his dream of Thai cheerleaders competing on the world stage.
Training montages document the hours of strength and flexibility workouts to help the relatively slightly built Thais better compete with their hulking Western counterparts. Another edge for the Thai team was innovative choreography and elaborate, customised cheerleader pyramids designed by Toey. His colourfully illustrated cheerleading notebook comes to life in motiongraphic animation.
Grainy archival footage is offset by newer, highdefinition video. And a soundtrack of contemporary Thai and foreign pop music keeps things pumping.
“We wanted to make it as entertaining as possible,” says Cassady Dorion. “We wanted to make it like a Hollywood feature.”
Another aspect examined is Thai spirituality – the team travels with its own fortuneteller. And while some might scoff at certain beliefs, such as tarotcard readings, the seer also had the team practising meditation to “centre” them psychologically and give them another advantage.
Since its premiere at the ninth World Film Festival of Bangkok in January 2012, “The Cheer Ambassadors” has spread its happy story around the world. It has won several awards, including Best Documentary at the 60 Degrees North festival in Os, Norway, the Audience Award at ChopShots in Jakarta and thirdplace International Documentary at the AllSports Los Angeles Film Festival.
But for the filmmakers, especially producer Tae, their greatest honour was being granted an audience to show “The Cheer Ambassadors” to Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.
The film has undergone a few changes since its debut, with sweetened animation sequences, a different ending and more footage from 2011 to better illustrate that the Thai cheerleaders achieved greatness not just once but twice. (The BU squad aims to again compete in the championships this May.)
Meanwhile CassadyDorion, Tae and Best are looking to again achieve greatness with the formation of A Single Production Company. They’ve done a variety of projects, including yoga videos and a short documentary on the woman who tailors the cheerleading team’s uniforms.
Their most recent project was the fiveepisode TV miniseries “DDance Dreams”, which was broadcast on the GMM1 satellite channel. An outgrowth of “The Cheer Ambassadors”, it centres on dance doyenne Auu Premjit, who commands the troupes that back up all the GMM Grammy singers. The series focuses on her efforts to professionalise the trade and ensure steady income for her stable of performers. Still more projects are in the works.
 “We want to do something that’s positive and uplifting, and raise the quality to make it entertaining,” says CassadyDorion. “We’re trying to stay away from word ‘documentary’ because people hear ‘documentary’ and they get bored.”In the Housen “The Cheer Ambassadors” is screening at House cinema on RCA. For details, check www.HouseRama.com.

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