77th Cannes Film Festival · Red Sea Film Foundation × Vanity Fair Europe · May 2024
Freen Sarocha, Women in Cinema honoree at Cannes
Freen Sarocha attended the 77th Cannes Film Festival as one of six "Women in Cinema" honorees, chosen by the Red Sea International Film Foundation and Vanity Fair Europe — and spoke on the official Women in Cinema panel, the first Thai GL actress to represent the genre on a Cannes stage.
How she was introduced
Sarocha Chankimha (Freen)
Women in Cinema honoree · 2024
The Red Sea Film Foundation introduced Freen as a Thai actress, model and singer who gained international recognition through Gap: The Series, one of six women it honored that year for reshaping film across Saudi Arabia, Africa, Asia and the Arab world. On the panel she told Variety that Gap had broken a boundary Thai series never crossed before — being watched abroad — and that meeting fans at Cannes from Brazil, Japan, Australia and Europe was something that had never happened for a Thai show.
Paraphrased from the Red Sea Film Foundation announcement and Variety's panel report · Red Sea Film Foundation · VarietyThe honor
Women in Cinema is the Red Sea International Film Foundation's annual program at Cannes: a panel held during Variety's Global Conversations, followed that evening by a gala with Vanity Fair Europe at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in Cap d'Antibes. Each year the foundation names a small group of honorees — actresses, directors, producers — from Saudi Arabia, Africa, Asia and the Arab world whose work is changing what the industry looks like. In 2024 there were six, and Freen was the only one from Southeast Asia.
The honor was for Gap: The Series — the first GL series broadcast on Thai national television, and by the time of Cannes one of Thailand's most-watched exports at more than 900 million YouTube views. On the panel Freen made the case that mattered: Thai series had always stayed in Thailand, and Gap was the first to travel. The gala that night drew the festival's biggest names, and Freen also appeared on the digital cover of Vanity Fair Europe's "Six Women in Cinema" feature — her first international magazine cover, archived in the magazines section.
Source: Red Sea Film Foundation press release (May 2024); Variety, "Actors Talk Representation at Cannes' Red Sea Women in Cinema Panel" (21 May 2024); Arab News coverage of the gala.
Why it matters
Cannes 2024 is the hinge in Freen's career — the point where a Thai television star became an international one. Three reasons.
A film-industry honor
Every earlier recognition came from Thai television or fan votes. Women in Cinema is a festival honor, chosen by a film foundation and covered by Variety — the first time the industry, not the fandom, put her name on a list. See her full filmography.
Cannes, then everything
Paris Fashion Week and the Red Sea festival in Jeddah followed within months; the Tokyo Girls Collection runway, the Met Gala and Valentino the year after. The fashion career starts here.
Proof of reach
Fans came to Cannes from four continents to see her — the first time that global audience was visible in person rather than in view counts. Logged, with the numbers, on Global Highlights and her impact section.
It was a FreenBecky moment as much as a solo one: Becky was at Cannes alongside her, which made them the first Thai GL couple at the festival — the first entry on the pair's list of firsts — and the trip came two months before Uranus 2324 opened in cinemas, giving Thailand's first GL film a Cannes-sized launch. Press from the week is collected on the press page.
2024, from Cannes on
What the honor opened, in order:
- MayWomen in Cinema honoree and panel speaker, 77th Cannes Film Festival; Vanity Fair Europe digital cover — first Thai GL couple at Cannes
- JulUranus 2324 released — Thailand's first GL film; top five at the Thai box office on its opening weekend
- Sep–OctParis Fashion Week, including Valentino's first show under Alessandro Michele — first Thai GL actresses at PFW
- Aug–NovThe Loyal Pin airs — Thailand's first period GL drama
- DecRed Sea International Film Festival, Jeddah — first Thai GL at the festival that had honored her in May
Each entry has its own page on the awards list, the filmography or the FreenBecky page.
Keep reading
The full panel is on Variety. For every award and honor across Freen, Becky and FreenBecky, see the awards page; for media and partnership inquiries, use contact for work.