Matthew Hunt
English
2020
Published by Silkworm Books (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
Printed by O.S. Printing House (Bangkok, Thailand)
21 x 14 cm, 312 pages, b/w, offset, glue bound, softcover
Thai Cinema Uncensored is the first full-length study of Thai film censorship. Informed by access to rare and controversial films, the author provides a history of film censorship in Thailand from its beginnings when films were censored by the police for ideological reasons, to the present when issues such as politics, religion and sex are the main reasons for Thai films being banned. Although a rating system was finally introduced in 2008, film censorship remains bureaucratic, opaque, and conservative. The book also examines how Thai filmmakers approach culturally sensitive subjects, and how their films have been censored as a result. It contains interviews with ten leading directors, including candid and extended conversations with Thai New Wave veterans Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. The directors all discuss their most controversial films, which range from mainstream studio movies to independent arthouse releases, and explain their responses to censorship: some took the censors to court, while others withdrew their films from Thailand altogether.