A Thai production by director Tom Waller looks set to win the race to be the first film about the daring rescue of 12 young boys and their football coach from the flooded Tham Luang cave in July.

The nerve-wracking extraction of the football team through a submerged treacherous labyrinth gripped the world for 18 days, and the remarkable story of human triumph over adversity sparked an immediate rush of six movie proposals.

In an interview with The Bangkok Post at the Toronto International Film Festival, Mr Waller said that work was already underway for his own film project, titled The Cave in English and Nang Non in Thai.

"The film is happening," confirmed the Anglo-Thai director, whose past films include Mindfulness and Murder, a thriller set in a temple, and Soi Cowboy, which featured at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008.

“The first draft of the script is finished and in October we will start building sets,” he said.