Glimpses of Freedom

Glimpses of Freedom: Independent Cinema in Southeast Asia, edited by May Adadol Ingawanij and Benjamin McKay, was published in 2012. Co-editor May examines the precarious position of Thailand’s burgeoning independent film sector as it navigates its arms-length relationship with state institutions. The book also includes an expanded version of Benedict Anderson’s essay on Tropical Malady (สัตว์ประหลาด), previously published in an Apichatpong Weerasethakul anthology. The highlight is The Age of Thai Independence, by Chalida Uabumrungjit, a wide-ranging survey of Thai short films and indie directors.

Made Men

Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas is the first book on the making of Martin Scorsese’s classic gangster film. Author Glenn Kenny covers the film’s casting (the studio “floated Tom Cruise and Madonna for the parts of Henry and Karen, a suggestion that was privately ridiculed by the filmkakers”), the soundtrack, and the editing, though the book is dominated by a descriptive scene-by-scene analysis in lieu of a full production history. A Scorsese interview (conducted just before the coronavirus lockdown) serves as an epilogue, and the director is characteristically voluble (his first answer is four pages long) and candid (“Goodfellas was a great experience but it was also terrible”).

Status in Statu

The group exhibition Status in Statu opened at Bangkok’s WTF Gallery on 6th October, on the anniversary of the 6th October 1976 massacre. The timing was intentional, and the exhibition includes an installation that refers directly to the violence of that event.

For A Massacre, Nutdanai Jitbunjong has hung a wooden folding chair from the ceiling; the chair is an iconic signifier of the massacre, thanks to Neal Ulevich’s photograph of a vigilante preparing to hit a corpse with a folding chair. Nutdanai’s chair is made from tamarind wood, as the dead man in Ulevich’s photo was hanged from a tamarind tree.

Status in Statu was organised by a progressive art collective from Khon Kaen, and Nutdanai’s installation was previously shown at the Khonkaen Manifesto (ขอนแก่น แมนิเฟสโต้) exhibition in 2018. (Tawan Wattuya’s Red Faces portraits from that exhibition were also subsequently shown in Bangkok.)

Mit Jai Inn’s installation is a large roll of fabric with a pattern of red and white stripes. The hidden meaning of the piece comes from its title, Republic of Siam: it could be interpreted as an alternative Thai flag, with one colour missing (blue). Status in Statu runs at WTF until 30th October.

Siamese Talk

Kritsana Chaikitwattana’s exhibition Siamese Talk opened at Jam in Bangkok on 25th September. Kritsana has covered newspapers and news magazines with plain paper, strategically torn to reveal photographs of Thai government ministers. The artist applied gold leaf to the images, a gesture that mocks the politicians rather than venerates them.

Gold leaf is usually applied to Buddha statues as an act of worship, though Kritsana is using it satirically. The gold makes the newspaper clippings glint like illuminated manuscripts, and it obscures the faces of Prayut Chan-o-cha and his cronies. The exhibition also includes images of King Vajiralongkorn, though Kritsana has used gold leaf only on the backgrounds of these photographs, not on the King himself.

In one piece, only a fragment of a headline is visible: “6 ตุลา” (‘6 Oct.’), i.e. the 6th October 1976 massacre. Siamese Talk also features paintings by Kritsana, including an image of the Buddha as Ultraman (พระพุทธรูปอุลตร้าแมน), a reference to the controversy surrounding Suparat Chaijangrid’s similar portraits last year. The exhibition runs until 25th October.

Italian Film Festival 2020

The Italian Film Festival returns to Bangkok this year, with screenings at House Samyan from 16th to 25th October. This year’s event features a mini retrospective of Federico Fellini classics, including 8½ on 20th October and La dolce vita on 21st October.

Tenet (IMAX 70mm)

Christopher Nolan’s new film, Tenet, was shown in 70mm at Bangkok’s Paragon Cineplex IMAX cinema on its first two days of release (27th and 28th August), though the 70mm projector broke down on the third day, a few minutes after the film began. IMAX technicians tried for three weeks to repair it, though it broke again on 18th September, during the film’s opening sequence. Fortunately, the second repair attempt was successful, and the film was shown again in 70mm yesterday.

More 70mm screenings are planned, though they will be limited to one per day. Paragon Cineplex is Thailand’s only full-size IMAX screen, and the Tenet screenings there are the film’s only 70mm engagements in Asia. Nolan’s previous films The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstallar, and Dunkirk were also shown in IMAX 70mm at Paragon Cineplex.

Memento

Christopher Nolan’s Memento will be screened at the House Samyan cinema in Bangkok next week. The thriller, which has an innovative reverse-chronological structure, will be shown from 5th to 13th October.

แขวน 6 ตุลา on Site Museumหลักฐาน + ข้อเท็จจริง + พื้นที่ + เทคโนโลยี(‘hanging 6th Oct. on-site museum’)

Next week marks the anniversary of the 6th October 1976 massacre at Thammasat University. Last year, for the first time, artefacts from the massacre itself were on display for two days at Thammasat’s Sri Burapha Auditorium, at an exhibition organised by Museum of 6 October. This year, the exhibition is being restaged at the same venue, from 1st to 11th October.

The exhibition, retitled แขวน 6 ตุลา on Site Museum หลักฐาน + ข้อเท็จจริง + พื้นที่ + เทคโนโลยี (‘hanging 6th Oct. on-site museum: evidence + facts + place + technology’) includes a complete reproduction of the infamous 6th October 1976 Dao Siam (ดาวสยาม) front page that precipitated the massacre, the first time that the entire page has been shown at Thammasat. Four short documentaries will be screened on a loop at the exhibition: The Two Brothers (สองพนอง), Respectfully Yours (ดวยความนบถอ), 6 October 1976: Space of Violence (6 ตุลาคม 2519: พื้นที่ของความรุนแรง), and Silenced Memories (ความทรงจ ไรเสยง). The Two Brothers and Silenced Memories will also be shown on 6th October on a larger screen.

Thai Cinema Uncensored

Thai Cinema Uncensored goes on sale today. Published in paperback by Silkworm Books (Chiang Mai), it’s the first full-length history of Thai film censorship. It examines how Thai filmmakers approach culturally sensitive subjects — sex, religion, and politics — and how their films have been banned as a result. It also includes the first comprehensive survey of Thai political filmmaking.

The book also features interviews with ten leading Thai directors: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Yuthlert Sippapak, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Thunska Pansittivorakul, Ing K., Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, Kanittha Kwunyoo, Surasak Pongson, and Nontawat Numbenchapol. It will be released in the US and the UK on 21st March 2021, distributed by the University of Washington Press. It’s also available as an ebook, via Amazon Kindle and Google Play.

Tucker Carlson Tonight

A Manhattan court has dismissed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News host Tucker Carlson. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil of the Southern District Court in New York ruled on 24th September that comments made by Carlson on his Tucker Carlson Tonight show were “merely rhetorical hyperbole” and thus did not meet the standard of ‘actual malice’ required in defamation cases involving public figures.

The lawsuit was filed by Karen McDougal, who received payment of $150,000 from the National Enquirer to prevent her from publicising her alleged affair with Donald Trump. (This and other so-called ‘catch-and-kill’ payments were made by the supermarket tabloid as part of a business arrangement with Trump.) McDougal sued Carlson after he accused her of extortion in an episode of his show broadcast on 10th December 2018.

Carlson did not refer to McDougal by name, though he stated that two women were paid by Trump. (McDougal and Stormy Daniels are the women in question.) Carlson began his discussion of the case by saying: “Remember the facts of the story. These are undisputed. Two women approached Donald Trump and threatened to ruin his career and humiliate his family if he doesn’t give them money. Now, that sounds like a classic case of extortion. Yet, for whatever reason, Trump caves to it, and he directs Michael Cohen to pay the ransom.”

In its defence of Carlson, Fox News argued that his comments “cannot reasonably be interpreted as facts”, and that his show should be viewed with “an appropriate amount of skepticism”. This apparent admission that Carlson should not be taken seriously is all the more surprising given that Carlson characterised his remarks as “the facts of the story.”