Chalefun Ditphudee

Human Rights Storyteller

Region: Southeast Asia

Chalefun Ditphudee (Chale) has seen firsthand how development projects in the Mekong Region harm people and often ignore concerns about human rights. She is determined to use her filmmaking and photography skills to document these problems and tell the stories of those who have been affected. Chale believes that stories can start a social movement. She hopes that through visual media, she can raise local Mekong people’s voices via a bigger platform and strengthen community capacity so that local people can share their stories and get justice.

Chale has been doing this for more than eight years with EarthRights International. She has produced a number of videos for campaigns and educational efforts, in addition to capturing compelling photographs to support EarthRights’ critical mission. Her work focuses on sustainable development, climate justice, gender equality, and rights to participation. Chale has also led classes for EarthRights School students in the Mekong Region on how to craft video and photo stories.
She graduated in 2013 from Chulalongkorn University, Faculty of Communication Arts, with a degree in Motion Pictures and Still Photography and a minor in Political Science. The same year, she also attended the seven-month training program at the EarthRights School Mekong. Chale was born in Bangkok, raised in Isan, and then finally decided to call Chiang Mai her home.