Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

How Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Pailin Wedel Got Hooked on The Trapped 13'

05/10/2022

Back to All News

How Emmy-Winning Filmmaker Pailin Wedel Got Hooked on The Trapped 13'

Netflix Staff

Netflix Staff

Entertainment

05 October 2022

GlobalThailand

At one point, the boys were convinced that if they dug hard enough, they would end up at an orange orchard. This was one of the snippets that the world is hearing for the first time in The Trapped 13: How We Survived the Thai Cave , a documentary that features exclusive interviews with the survivors who were rescued from a cave in Thailand after 17 days.

Ahead of the film's debut on October 5, director Pailin Wedel talks about why she embarked on the documentary and what inspired her.

What were you doing when the story of the trapped boys made news?

I was about to get married when the news broke! As a journalist, my phone was just going off with messages from people asking me to cover the news, which I couldn't at that time. When they were found, I actually cried. I couldnt just believe they were still alive! This documentary really focuses on the same questions I had then: How did they survive and what was going through their minds?

How did you come on board this documentary project?

I was initially hired as a researcher for the Thai Cave Rescue series to interview the boys and their parents, as well as Coach Eak. But Netflix had the incredible foresight to ask me to see if there were documentary possibilities during that process. I wasnt convinced at first: Did the boys and the coach do anything interesting as they waited to be rescued? What more was there to say with all the other films in production?

But when I spoke to them for the first time, it dawned on me that there weren't that many people in the world who have heard their perspectives. News articles cover the facts but they aren't able to go in-depth into the emotions, thoughts and feelings of the boys.

The story that came out of these interviews was amazing. It was full of hope, setbacks, perseverance, and even humor. It was inspiring. Thats when I was hooked. A documentary wasnt only possible but important. They had things to say thats never been heard before.

What were some of your initial reservations?

We were very concerned about the boys mental well-being and did not want to produce the documentary if they exhibited signs of trauma. Before meeting the boys, I consulted with Netflixs MIND team (which included mental health experts) on recognizing signs of trauma.

We started by having informal chats with all 12 boys and their parents. While they all did well during the initial chat, we only interviewed those who clearly showed us they wanted to tell their story and were enthusiastic to do so. We combined the interviews for the mini-series with the documentary interviews as much as we could to limit the amount of time they had to spend thinking about the topic.

So what do you think helped the boys to survive?

I was surprised by how big of a role Coach Eak played in keeping them together. I truly believe they survived because of the leadership Coach Eak and his right-hand person, Tee, exhibited. They constantly had tactics to distract and periodically inject the other boys with hope.

At the same time, the boys themselves played a big part in their own survival. When we were filming the re-creations in the cave, full-grown adults on our crew were scared. But because these boys grew up with a lot of challenges, they were tougher than most. Im not sure a group of city kids would survive stuck in the cave as long as they did.

The Wild Boars have a lot of grit and while they don't seem to be traumatized from being trapped in the cave, they live with a lot of guilt for causing such a fuss. Many of them feel they have to be perfect to be deserving of the amount of effort put into saving them.

How has this story inspired you?

We live in a rather bleak world today. But this story reminds us that even when things are at its worst - most people did not even think the boys would be alive - there is always a small hope of survival.

Catch The Trapped 13: How We Survived The Thai Cave exclusively on Netflix from October 5.
LINK: https://about.netflix.com/en/news/the-trapped-13-director-pailin-wedel...
See more stories from netflix

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

12/06/2026

Bitmovin Partners with Simplestream and Xperi to Support...

Bitmovin, a provider of video streaming solutions, has partnered with Simplestream, a provider of OTT and broadcast solutions, and technology provider Xperi, to...

12/06/2026

Jigsaw24 Signs Deal to Resell Leostream Remote Desktop Ac...

Leostream Corporation, creator of the world-leading Leostream Remote Desktop Access Platform, today announced Jigsaw24, a leading B2B IT solutions provider wit...

12/06/2026

Study: 2026 Election Cycle to Hit Record $11.6 Billion Ad Spend

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

NAB Elects Leadership at June Board of Directors Meeting

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

FCC Believes World Cup Communication Will Score Highly

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Broadcasters Back NO FAKES Act

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

Scripps Unveils Coverage Plans For America's 250th Anniversary

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

12/06/2026

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP

How Aussie indie games and screen are levelling up with IP 11 June 2026 Ari Harrison, Pro Jank Footy Head of Games Joey Egger and Ari Harrison of Umbrella sha...

12/06/2026

RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast

RT stays Up All Night with brand new daily 2026 FIFA World Cup Vodcast Adding to the fun around 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament, RT has launched a brand new d...

12/06/2026

June 11, 2026

A fentanyl countermeasure that adapts to combat future black-market drugs Scripps Research scientists developed a vaccine that teaches the immune system to rapi...

11/06/2026

HBSs Johannes Franken on Digital Innovations, the Role of the Influencer at the 2026 FIFA World Cup

The immense size of the tourney and its Atlantic-spanning operation also disting...

11/06/2026

Nielsen: Soccer Fandom in North America Tops 136 Million, Up 10.9% in Five Years

Nielsen has released a new soccer fandom consumer research report, The Fans Behind The Game: FIFA World Cup 2026 Edition, examining the soccer audience in the...

11/06/2026

Telemundo Announces All-Day Opening Day Coverage for FIFA World Cup 2026 on June 11

Telemundo will launch its FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage on Thursday, June 11 with...

11/06/2026

Fubo Announces Distribution Agreement With NBCUniversal

FuboTV Inc. has announced a distribution agreement with NBCUniversal. Fubo customers can now stream Telemundo and Universo, with NBC Sports Network (NBCSN), NBC...

11/06/2026

DAZN Announces In-App Features for FIFA World Cup 2026 Coverage in Spain, Italy, and Japan

DAZN has announced its in-app features for FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage in Spain...

11/06/2026

Roblox Report: Sports Engagement on Platform Drives Real-World Fandom and Purchases

Roblox has released the 2026 Roblox Digital Expression Report: Wave 4 - Sports D...

11/06/2026

Andrea Bocelli, David Guetta, Megan Thee Stallion, and EJAE Release Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem DNA'

FIFA has unveiled DNA, the Official FIFA World Cup 2026 Anthem, performed by A...

11/06/2026

ESPN Announces Extensive English- and Spanish-Language World Cup 2026 Coverage

ESPN will provide English- and Spanish-language news and information coverage of FIFA World Cup 2026 across its U.S. media platforms from June 11 through July 1...

11/06/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Teddy Batkin, Rochester Institute of Technology

The latest product of the outstanding RIT Sports Network program, this recent grad from Long Island is carving out a promising path in broadcast engineering In...

11/06/2026

DAZN and DSPORTS Announce Distribution Agreement Across Five Latin American Countries

DAZN has announced a multi-year agreement to make DSPORTS channels available to ...

11/06/2026

Resource Actors Throughout the Years at Sundance Institute's Directors Lab

Laura Dern at the 1986 Sundance Institute Directors Lab (Photo by Eric Edwards) By Lucy Spicer It takes a village to bring together the Sundance Institute lab...

11/06/2026

Introducing a New Standard for Podcast Plays and Upgraded Creator Analytics Experience

As podcast formats evolve in the streaming era, podcasting needs updated, transp...

11/06/2026

RADAR Italia Unveils 6 New Artists and a New Approach for 2026

As Spotify's global RADAR program enters its sixth year in Italy, a new class of artists is stepping into the spotlight. Today, we're announcing the six...

11/06/2026

5 Audiobooks that Amplify and Celebrate Queer Voices

Pride Month is a time for celebration, reflection, and amplifying the diverse stories and perspectives from the LGBTQIA+ community that enrich our world. To hel...

11/06/2026

VSL introduce Synchron Solo Violin 1 & Cello (sordino)

First in new line of muted string libraries VSL have just announced the launch of two new string libraries that represent the first two instalments in a new...

11/06/2026

Novation reveal the Launchkey 61 MK4 White

New colour option for 61-key Launchkey MK4 At Superbooth 2025, Novation introduced the Launchkey Mini 37 White and Launchkey 49 White, bringing an additiona...

11/06/2026

Arturia announce the MiniLab 37

Larger, but still compact! Arturia's popular compact MIDI controller keyboard is now available in a, well, slightly less compact version! The new MiniLa...

11/06/2026

Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield

Eurosatory 2026: Rohde & Schwarz shapes the new-generation battlefield Rohde & Schwarz unveils next generation SIGINT/EW and CUAS solutions on uncrewed system...

11/06/2026

Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the future battlefield

Rohde & Schwarz unveils NEMACS - Directional, ultra secure connectivity for the ...

11/06/2026

MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit

MTI FILM acquires Mango/New Edit Posted by MTI Film on June 10, 2026 LOS ANGELES, CA - June 2026 - MTI FILM, the multiple Emmy Award winning Hollywood post-p...

11/06/2026

Ungrounded LLM Fabricates Every Detail for Nearly 1 in 5 Movie and TV Titles Tested, New Gracenote Report Finds

Study underscores the need for authoritative content intelligence to build trust...

11/06/2026

PTZOptics, LayerJot Partner on AI-Powered PTZ at InfoComm 2026

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Chyron Unveils PAINT 10.4

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift for Revit and Archicad Integration Beta

Maxon Brings Real-Time Architectural Visualization to AIA26 With New Redshift fo...

11/06/2026

ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design

ABC Kid's Caper Crew Shoots Australian Adventure with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 11, 2026 0 Comments DP Judd Overton and team bring Wes A...

11/06/2026

PTZOptics and LayerJot demo Visual Reasoning at InfoComm...

PTZOptics, and LayerJot today announced live demonstrations at InfoComm 2026 showing how prompt-based AI, robotic camera control, and high-performance computing...

11/06/2026

Lightware launches GPIO Button to deliver simplified hard...

Lightware, an industry leader in signal management, announces the release of GPIO-Button-10S, a dedicated control interface enabling straightforward press-to-a...

11/06/2026

NABs LeGeyt Urges Congress to Limit NFL's Antitrust Exemption

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Fubo Inks New Distribution Agreement with NBCUniversal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

11/06/2026

Kiloview to Showcase Broadcast-Grade AV-over-IP Solutions...

Kiloview, a leading innovator in AV-over-IP video solutions, will return to InfoComm 2026 (Booth# N8327) with broadcast-grade AV-over-IP solutions designed for ...

11/06/2026

Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms

Australian Games Industry Glossary of Terms 10 June 2026 From DAU and EULA to COT and QADE, here's a list of game industry terms, industry jargon and their...

11/06/2026

Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year

Berklee's Tonya Butler Named Music Business Educator of the Year The Music Business Association honored Butler at its annual Bizzy Awards. June 10, 2026 ...

11/06/2026

Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement

Ann Mincieli to Receive Honorary Doctorate at Berklee NYC Graduate Commencement The five-time Grammy-winning engineer and producer, known for her longstanding...

11/06/2026

Daisy May Cooper rallies the nation ahead of ICC Womens T20 World Cup

Thursday 11 June 2026 Daisy May Cooper rallies the nation ahead of ICC Women's T20 World CupTurn on cookies to view this content. Go to Privacy options and...

11/06/2026

Hadewych Minis and Geert van Rampelberg to Star in New Netflix Series Directed by Paula van der Oest

Back to All News Hadewych Minis and Geert van Rampelberg to Star in New Netflix...

11/06/2026

Official Trailer for Anime Adaptation of Thunder 3' Unveiled Ahead of July 9 Premiere

Back to All News Official Trailer for Anime Adaptation of Thunder 3' Unvei...