Showing 1 - 10 of 23
View from the Far South
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 06/12/2019
» Young men lie face-down on the floor, their hands tied at the back. Uniformed officers punch and kick them. "Squeeze in!" they shout at the men on the ground. More kicks, more punches.
Outstanding films of 2018
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 28/12/2018
» From the spiritual to the scary, many genres had quality offerings.
Cinema Politico
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 14/12/2018
» The premiere of the social-commentary film Ten Years Thailand on Tuesday night saw a number of political celebrities in the vaulted foyer of the Scala, brushing elbows with journalists, film professionals and gawking onlookers. Sulak Sivaraksa was there, as well as historian Charnvit Kasetsiri, Thongthong Chandrangsu and several political-science scholars. Big names from political parties showed up: Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit from Future Forward, Parit Ratanakulserirengrit from the Democrats, Chatchat Sitthiphun and Wattana Muangsuk from Pheu Thai, Sombat Boon-ngamanong from Krian Party. Invitations had been sent out to all parties, according to the film producers, but no one from Palang Pracharat and Bhumjaithai attended the screening.
Chaiyaphum owed more than lost data
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 11/08/2018
» In the age of video clips, one video clip is absent. At a time when we're inundated by cat clips, dog clips, accident clips, slap clips, brawl clips, grope clips, chase clips, murder clips -- when we even have clips recorded from the depths of a dark cave where light hardly reaches -- it's amazing that one crucial clip, shot in broad daylight, is missing, lost or made to be lost forever, along with transparency and maybe justice.
A comedy likely to end only in horror
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 03/02/2018
» The junta can read the stars and history and they must know this isn't going to end well. As frustration grows, as protests form, as their support ebbs even their idol Gen Prem Tinsulanonda flat-out said so they amp up censorship and tighten the squeeze, not with gusto but with desperation. With Deputy Prime Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwon looking increasingly like a plump Chinese deity on the verge of losing his worshippers, the regime reacts with force, gagging tactics and plain old bullying.
When art imitates life in the South
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 12/08/2017
» Suhaidee Sata is an artist from Pattani whose art pieces include charcoal sketches of guns used by security officials in the deep South. "This is M16a1," he pointed at one drawing. "This is M16a2. This is M4. And this is AK47."
Southern discomfort, by those who live it
Life, Kong Rithdee, Published on 04/08/2017
» 'I'm not really a photographer. In fact I hated photography," said photographer Mumadsoray Deng from Pattani.
In our special situation, hail the metaphors
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 22/07/2017
» We can still speak, preferably in English, or even better in metaphors. The dilemma is painful: We speak in coded words and we risk being irrelevant, obscure, snobbish; but if we say it too directly, we risk something else, such as a summons, a slap on the wrist, or a mark on the forehead as the Biblical executioners arrive at the gates of Jerusalem. For those to whom Thailand remains home, both paths are strewn with barbed wire.
Our newest mission is to love the bomb
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 08/07/2017
» Like all soap addicts, I caught glimpses of the debut episode of the television series Love Missions last week. Not a strand of hair misplaced despite his dangerous expedition, Capt Purich (played by Sukollawat Kanarot) enters a red zone to battle terrorists after they've abducted foreign delegates from a conference in Bangkok. "This act of terrorism has a big boss behind it," intones the captain.
First they came for those who 'twerk'
News, Kong Rithdee, Published on 17/06/2017
» The police this week visited several cultural spaces, to appreciate the art and to mete out censorship. Next they'll give out art prizes -- to those who toe the line and serve the official ideology -- like the propagandistic communist states did in the last century.