Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weersethakul was the first recipient of the Peter Brunette Award for Best Director during the 13th Annual RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem.

Brunette was Reynolds Professor of Film Studies at Wake Forest and film critic for The Hollywood Reporter. He died last year while attending the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily. Burnette was a major supporter of RiverRun.

Weersethakul’s film, “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives,” was the winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

“He was the model of a Reynolds professor,” said Dean of the College Jacque Fetrow about Brunette, “an interdisciplinary scholar, nationally and internationally known, with a love of teaching and ability to bring his expertise into the classroom and engage students.”