It was selected as the Thai entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.

The film is based on a real life teacher of a houseboat school, Ban Ko Allocated School (Ruen Phae Branch), on the Ping River at the Bhumibol Dam in Mae Ping National Park in Li district, Lamphun province.

The motif of a left behind diary is based on an incident from the marriage of a producer's friend.

[3][4][5][6] An out of work male teacher accepts an offer to teach in a remote school based on a run down houseboat.

There he read a diary left behind by the previous year's teacher - a woman banished from her city school for refusing to remove her tattoo.