Word: thailander
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...boozing and smooching docs might set a bad example for medical practitioners, but what's wrong with flying saucers or a musical monk? Apichatpong, 37, spent two years filming the story, based loosely on the lives of his physician parents, and says he doesn't know why Thailand's censors wanted to cut the four scenes. He also refused to play along. So Syndromes, which opened last month in London as part of an Apichatpong season at BFI Southbank, won't be showing anytime soon in Bangkok. "I'm sick of this system," the director sighs...
...only one. The process of deciding who watches what in Thailand is governed by a 1930 law that gives the police the right to censor films. But that might be about to change. This month, the Ministry of Culture is pushing before Thailand's military-appointed legislature a controversial new law that proponents say would move the country's censorship rules into the modern era. Many filmmakers, however, fear the proposed changes will only make censorship worse. "They want the power to control us," says Chalida Uabumrungjit, head of the nonprofit Thai Film Foundation...
...Under current rules, producers and directors often find their artistic visions held hostage by the whims of the police, whose tastes run to head-spinning violence and slapstick comedy - but no politics or nudity, please. Fewer than 50 local movies are shown annually in Thailand, and the competition for screens spurs many studio bosses to work closely with censors or risk being shut out. The alternative is self-censorship. "We have learned to self-censor ourselves for a long time," says Pimpaka Towira, director of the critically lauded 2003 feature One Night Husband...
...under the proposed law, say they have the industry's support, and point to the ministry's success in introducing a similar system for Thai television channels. But many film directors are actually aghast at the prospect of more government interference. Far from overhauling an outdated law, they say, Thailand's cultural guardians are finding new ways to suppress controversial films. Opponents also claim that the criteria for classification are intentionally vague. One sweeping clause in the draft legislation states that films should not "undermine social order or moral decency" or affect the "security and pride of the nation...
...people, most tragically in 1988 when a student-led protest movement was crushed, leaving some 3,000 dead. Nor do army leaders perceive threats to their authority coming only from inside the country. "Than Shwe grew up under colonial occupation by the British and the Japanese," says Thailand-based Burmese military analyst Win Min, "so he is a nationalist to the point of xenophobia [who] believes military rule is the only way to keep the country independent." Indeed, in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Oct. 1, Burma's Foreign Minister Nyan Win blamed the protests on elements...