The second annual Phimailongweek (พิมายฬองวีค) experimental arts festival is now under way at Phimai, in Korat province. The festival includes a series of late-night film screenings and panel discussions at various locations around the ancient town, and the highlight so far has been มรดกของการเซนเซอร์ ผลกระทบ จากความขัดแย้ง และเสรีภาพในการสร้างภาพยนตร์ (‘the legacy of censorship and the impact of conflict on freedom for filmmaking’), a Midnight Talk discussion at Victory Gate on 2nd August with directors Tanwarin Sukkhapisit and Ing K., both of whom have made films that were previously banned in Thailand.
Tanwarin’s Insects in the Backyard (อินเซคอินเดอะแบ็คยาร์ด) was banned in 2010, and Shakespeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) was banned two years later, and both directors fought long and ultimately successful legal campaigns against the censors. I interviewed Tanwarin and Ing for Thai Cinema Uncensored, and the book discusses the censorship of their films in more detail.
Tanwarin’s Insects in the Backyard (อินเซคอินเดอะแบ็คยาร์ด) was banned in 2010, and Shakespeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) was banned two years later, and both directors fought long and ultimately successful legal campaigns against the censors. I interviewed Tanwarin and Ing for Thai Cinema Uncensored, and the book discusses the censorship of their films in more detail.
The Midnight Talk discussion focused on the impact of the 2008 Film and Video Act and the two directors’ reactions to their films being censored. Tanwarin described how the film industry fought for the introduction of the new regulation (“ซึ่งเราก็ต่อสู้กันมาอย่างยาวนานนะกว่าจะได้ พ.ร.บ. ภาพยนตร์ปี”), and said that the decision to ban her film had made her cry (“ซึ่งตอนนั้นรีแอคก็คือก็เสียใจก็ร้องไห้นะฮะ”). In contrast, Ing said that when an Administrative Court judge dismissed her film and rejected her appeal, she was absolutely enraged (“อาจจะใกล้เป็นผู้ก่อการร้ายมากที่สุดในชีวิตนะ”).
Interestingly, Tanwarin explained that she had specifically conceived Insects in the Backyard to be the first film to be rated ‘20’, the highest classification in the rating system. Her intention was to take advantage of the adult rating by making an explicit film, though she hadn’t expected it to be banned outright (“พอเราเป็นคนทําเนี่ยเราก็วางแผนชัดเจนนะว่าหนังเราจะต้องได้เป็นหนังไทยเรื่องแรกที่ได้เรตติ้ง ‘20’... แต่เราก็ไม่นึกว่ามันจะเลยเถิดจนถึง: อืม ห้ามฉายโดนแบนนะครับ”).
Tanwarin also recalled how, when the ban was announced, she was criticised online for making what many considered a ‘sissy’ film. The bitter irony, she said, was that people were opposed to the film because they didn’t understand transsexuality, which the film would have given them a better understanding of (“เป็นเพราะความไม่เข้าใจ ซึ่งมันก็ตรงกับสิ่งที่เราต้องการนําเสนออยู่ในหนัง”).
Ultimately, Insects in the Backyard was granted a reprieve by the Administrative Court in 2015. (It went on general release in 2017.) The court ruled that a three-second hardcore clip must be cut out, a result that Tanwarin described as both a defeat and a victory (“เราแพ้แต่เราชนะ”) — technically, she lost her appeal for an uncut release, though she saw it as winning the right to show her film, which was no longer branded as immoral.
Ing’s battle with the censors took even longer than Tanwarin’s: the ban on Shakespeare Must Die was finally lifted by the Supreme Court last year, and its theatrical release came a few months later. (It has since been screened at Burapha University and Chiang Mai University.) She explained that freedom of expression is essential for artists, and should not be suppressed (“ไม่ควรมีใครมาปิดกั้นความคิดเราไม่ให้เราสามารถพูดในสิ่งที่เราอยากพูดได้”).
Ing also argued that the defamation law is too strict, as the descendants of military leaders have used it to block films about Thailand’s political history. She cited two aborted projects — Euthana Mukdasanit’s biopic of Phibun Songkhram (2482); and จอมพล (‘marshal’), Banjong Kosallawat’s drama about a fictional character resembling Sarit Thanarat — both of which were abandoned following legal threats.
The Midnight Talk event was the latest of numerous panel discussions and seminars on the subject of Thai film censorship. จาก YouTube ถึงแสงศตวรรษ การเซ็นเซอร์สื่อในยุครัฐบาล คมช (‘media censorship from YouTube to Syndromes and a Century’) and From Censorship to Rating System (จากเซ็นเซอร์สู่เรตติ้ง) were both held in 2007. Ing and Tanwarin took part in Art, Politics, and Censorship in 2012. These were followed by Freedom on Film (สิทธิหนังไทย) in 2013, Freedom Thai Film (กู้อิสรภาพหนังไทย) in 2018, and Tearing Down the Wall (ทลายกำแพง) in 2023.
Shakespeare Must Die was shown after the Midnight Talk discussion. Then, in the early hours of 3rd August, it was followed by two political documentaries: Nontawat Numbenchapol’s Boundary (ฟ้าต่ำแผ่นดินสูง) and Uruphong Raksasad’s Paradox Democracy, part of the festival’s Phimailongdoo (พิมายฬองดูววว) programme of overnight screenings.
Interestingly, Tanwarin explained that she had specifically conceived Insects in the Backyard to be the first film to be rated ‘20’, the highest classification in the rating system. Her intention was to take advantage of the adult rating by making an explicit film, though she hadn’t expected it to be banned outright (“พอเราเป็นคนทําเนี่ยเราก็วางแผนชัดเจนนะว่าหนังเราจะต้องได้เป็นหนังไทยเรื่องแรกที่ได้เรตติ้ง ‘20’... แต่เราก็ไม่นึกว่ามันจะเลยเถิดจนถึง: อืม ห้ามฉายโดนแบนนะครับ”).
Tanwarin also recalled how, when the ban was announced, she was criticised online for making what many considered a ‘sissy’ film. The bitter irony, she said, was that people were opposed to the film because they didn’t understand transsexuality, which the film would have given them a better understanding of (“เป็นเพราะความไม่เข้าใจ ซึ่งมันก็ตรงกับสิ่งที่เราต้องการนําเสนออยู่ในหนัง”).
Ultimately, Insects in the Backyard was granted a reprieve by the Administrative Court in 2015. (It went on general release in 2017.) The court ruled that a three-second hardcore clip must be cut out, a result that Tanwarin described as both a defeat and a victory (“เราแพ้แต่เราชนะ”) — technically, she lost her appeal for an uncut release, though she saw it as winning the right to show her film, which was no longer branded as immoral.
Ing’s battle with the censors took even longer than Tanwarin’s: the ban on Shakespeare Must Die was finally lifted by the Supreme Court last year, and its theatrical release came a few months later. (It has since been screened at Burapha University and Chiang Mai University.) She explained that freedom of expression is essential for artists, and should not be suppressed (“ไม่ควรมีใครมาปิดกั้นความคิดเราไม่ให้เราสามารถพูดในสิ่งที่เราอยากพูดได้”).
Ing also argued that the defamation law is too strict, as the descendants of military leaders have used it to block films about Thailand’s political history. She cited two aborted projects — Euthana Mukdasanit’s biopic of Phibun Songkhram (2482); and จอมพล (‘marshal’), Banjong Kosallawat’s drama about a fictional character resembling Sarit Thanarat — both of which were abandoned following legal threats.
The Midnight Talk event was the latest of numerous panel discussions and seminars on the subject of Thai film censorship. จาก YouTube ถึงแสงศตวรรษ การเซ็นเซอร์สื่อในยุครัฐบาล คมช (‘media censorship from YouTube to Syndromes and a Century’) and From Censorship to Rating System (จากเซ็นเซอร์สู่เรตติ้ง) were both held in 2007. Ing and Tanwarin took part in Art, Politics, and Censorship in 2012. These were followed by Freedom on Film (สิทธิหนังไทย) in 2013, Freedom Thai Film (กู้อิสรภาพหนังไทย) in 2018, and Tearing Down the Wall (ทลายกำแพง) in 2023.
Shakespeare Must Die was shown after the Midnight Talk discussion. Then, in the early hours of 3rd August, it was followed by two political documentaries: Nontawat Numbenchapol’s Boundary (ฟ้าต่ำแผ่นดินสูง) and Uruphong Raksasad’s Paradox Democracy, part of the festival’s Phimailongdoo (พิมายฬองดูววว) programme of overnight screenings.
Shakespeare Must Die
Shakespeare Must Die is a Thai adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, with Pisarn Pattanapeeradej in the lead role. The play is presented in two parallel versions: a production in period costume, and a contemporary political interpretation. The period version is faithful to Shakespeare’s original, though it also breaks the fourth wall, with cutaways to the audience and an interval outside the theatre (featuring a cameo by the director).
In the contemporary sequences, Macbeth is reimagined as Mekhdeth, a prime minister facing a crisis. Street protesters shout “ok pbai!” (‘get out!’), and the protests are infiltrated by assassins listed in the credits as ‘men in black’. Ing has downplayed any direct link to Thai politics, though “Thaksin ok pbai!” was the People’s Alliance for Democracy’s rallying cry against Thaksin Shinawatra, and ‘men in black’ were blamed for instigating violence in 2010. Another satirical line in the script — “Dear Leader brings happy-ocracy!” — predicts Prayut Chan-o-cha’s propaganda song Returning Happiness to the Thai Kingdom (คืนความสุขให้ประเทศไทย).
The parallels between Mekhdeth and Thaksin highlight the politically-motivated nature of the ban imposed on the film. Ironically, the project was initially funded by the Ministry of Culture, during Abhisit Vejjajiva’s premiership: it received a grant from the ไทยเข้มแข็ง (‘strong Thailand’) stimulus package. The Abhisit government was only too happy to greenlight a script criticising Thaksin, though by the time the film was finished, Thaksin’s sister Yingluck was in power, and her administration was somewhat less disposed to this anti-Thaksin satire, hence the ban.
Although the film was made more than a decade ago, its message is arguably more timely than ever, as Thaksin’s influence over Thai politics continues. He returned to Thailand in 2023, and his Pheu Thai Party is now leading a coalition with the political wing of the military junta.
The film’s climax, a recreation of the 6th October 1976 massacre, is its most controversial sequence. A photograph by Neal Ulevich, taken during the massacre, shows a vigilante preparing to hit a corpse with a chair, and Shakespeare Must Die restages the incident. A hanging body (symbolising Shakespeare himself) is repeatedly hit with a chair, though rather than dwelling on the violence, Ing cuts to reaction shots of the crowd, which (as in 1976) resembles a baying mob.
Ing didn’t mince her words in her Thai Cinema Uncensored interview, describing the censors as “a bunch of trembling morons with the power of life and death over our films.” Thai Cinema Uncensored also includes an insider’s account from a member of the appeals committee, who said he was obliged by his department head to vote against releasing the film: “I had to vote no, because it was an instruction from my director. But if I could have voted freely, I would have voted yes.”
In the contemporary sequences, Macbeth is reimagined as Mekhdeth, a prime minister facing a crisis. Street protesters shout “ok pbai!” (‘get out!’), and the protests are infiltrated by assassins listed in the credits as ‘men in black’. Ing has downplayed any direct link to Thai politics, though “Thaksin ok pbai!” was the People’s Alliance for Democracy’s rallying cry against Thaksin Shinawatra, and ‘men in black’ were blamed for instigating violence in 2010. Another satirical line in the script — “Dear Leader brings happy-ocracy!” — predicts Prayut Chan-o-cha’s propaganda song Returning Happiness to the Thai Kingdom (คืนความสุขให้ประเทศไทย).
The parallels between Mekhdeth and Thaksin highlight the politically-motivated nature of the ban imposed on the film. Ironically, the project was initially funded by the Ministry of Culture, during Abhisit Vejjajiva’s premiership: it received a grant from the ไทยเข้มแข็ง (‘strong Thailand’) stimulus package. The Abhisit government was only too happy to greenlight a script criticising Thaksin, though by the time the film was finished, Thaksin’s sister Yingluck was in power, and her administration was somewhat less disposed to this anti-Thaksin satire, hence the ban.
Although the film was made more than a decade ago, its message is arguably more timely than ever, as Thaksin’s influence over Thai politics continues. He returned to Thailand in 2023, and his Pheu Thai Party is now leading a coalition with the political wing of the military junta.
The film’s climax, a recreation of the 6th October 1976 massacre, is its most controversial sequence. A photograph by Neal Ulevich, taken during the massacre, shows a vigilante preparing to hit a corpse with a chair, and Shakespeare Must Die restages the incident. A hanging body (symbolising Shakespeare himself) is repeatedly hit with a chair, though rather than dwelling on the violence, Ing cuts to reaction shots of the crowd, which (as in 1976) resembles a baying mob.
Ing didn’t mince her words in her Thai Cinema Uncensored interview, describing the censors as “a bunch of trembling morons with the power of life and death over our films.” Thai Cinema Uncensored also includes an insider’s account from a member of the appeals committee, who said he was obliged by his department head to vote against releasing the film: “I had to vote no, because it was an instruction from my director. But if I could have voted freely, I would have voted yes.”
Boundary
Boundary documents the 2008 conflict between Thailand and Cambodia when the disputed Preah Vihear Temple was exploited for nationalist political gain. The issue was so sensitive that the director couldn’t even reveal his identity while filming at the temple. As he told me in his Thai Cinema Uncensored interview: “I could not tell anyone in Cambodia that I’m Thai, because it would be hard to shoot. I had to tell everybody I’m Chinese-American... My name was Thomas in Cambodia.”
The festival screening is especially timely, as another border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is currently taking place. At a time when the Cambodian government is inflaming tensions, and nationalist groups in Thailand are exploiting the political crisis, Boundary represents a plea for de-escalation on both sides, and a reminder of the dangers of history repeating itself.
Boundary is composed largely of silent, still sequences depicting the serenity of rural life, as a counterpoint to the fierce border dispute surrounding the temple. Nontawat begins by interviewing Aod, a young soldier, in his home village. Idyllic sequences of novice monks bathing and Aod’s father fishing are contrasted with Aod describing his military conscription and the army’s crackdown against red-shirt protesters in 2010.
After footage of the Thai military firing at their Cambodian counterparts near Preah Vihear, we see damage to houses and a school close to the temple, caused by bombs and gunfire from Cambodian troops. Finally, at the end of the film, Nontawat’s camera explores the temple itself, the ruined Khmer compound that has been the subject of such bloodshed and ultra-nationalism.
Boundary was previously shown at Lido Connect and Warehouse 30 in Bangkok in 2019. Its most recent screenings were at Chiang Mai University, the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, and Thammasat University in Bangkok. It has been subject to censorship twice: it was cut before its theatrical release in 2013, and a screening in Chonburi was prohibited by the military in 2015.
The festival screening is especially timely, as another border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia is currently taking place. At a time when the Cambodian government is inflaming tensions, and nationalist groups in Thailand are exploiting the political crisis, Boundary represents a plea for de-escalation on both sides, and a reminder of the dangers of history repeating itself.
Boundary is composed largely of silent, still sequences depicting the serenity of rural life, as a counterpoint to the fierce border dispute surrounding the temple. Nontawat begins by interviewing Aod, a young soldier, in his home village. Idyllic sequences of novice monks bathing and Aod’s father fishing are contrasted with Aod describing his military conscription and the army’s crackdown against red-shirt protesters in 2010.
After footage of the Thai military firing at their Cambodian counterparts near Preah Vihear, we see damage to houses and a school close to the temple, caused by bombs and gunfire from Cambodian troops. Finally, at the end of the film, Nontawat’s camera explores the temple itself, the ruined Khmer compound that has been the subject of such bloodshed and ultra-nationalism.
Boundary was previously shown at Lido Connect and Warehouse 30 in Bangkok in 2019. Its most recent screenings were at Chiang Mai University, the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, and Thammasat University in Bangkok. It has been subject to censorship twice: it was cut before its theatrical release in 2013, and a screening in Chonburi was prohibited by the military in 2015.
Paradox Democracy
Paradox Democracy documents the recent student protest movement, and features clips from rally speeches by Arnon Nampa and other protest leaders, intercut with extracts from The Revolutionist (คือผู้อภิวัฒน์), a play about Pridi Banomyong staged by the Crescent Moon theatre group in 2020. The film’s working title was Paradox October, and it includes footage shot at the 6th October 1976 commemorative exhibition at Thammasat University in 2020. It was previously shown at The 28th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 28), and at Chiang Mai University.
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