'Quarantine' under lockdown

A documentary that examines gay issues and the Tak Bai Incident has been banned by the Culture Ministry from screening at next week's World Film Festival of Bangkok.

"This Area Is Under Quarantine", a film by Thunska Pansittivorakul, recalls 2004's Tak Bai Incident, in which Muslim detainees were packed into army trucks and 85 died, mostly from suffocation. The scenes of the shirtless detainees being bound and beaten, taken from banned video footage, are contrasted with interviews with two gay Thai men - one a Muslim from Narathiwat in the South and the other a Buddhist from Yasothon in the Northeast. The latter half of the 83minute feature is the young men engaging in explicit sexual activities.

 "Nudity is not their concern at all. It's the politics," festival director Kriengsak "Victor" Silakong says of the censors' decision. "Thunksa's film is quite strong. It's really up front, about everything."

Culture Ministry decision

"This Area Is Under Quarantine" was submitted to the Culture Ministry's censorship board after attempts to have it classified under Thailand's new motionpicture ratings system proved impossible. Only the films' rights holders can submit movies to the ratings system, which is geared for commercial screenings, not film festivals.

The film had been shown in private in Bangkok and at festivals in Rotterdam and Turin, Italy.

Several other titles in the World Film Festival of Bangkok are also controversial, including next Friday's opener, "Mundane History" by Anocha Suwichakornpong. It contains sex and nudity and the characters in the film are allegorical to Thai society. But censors said "Mundane History" is okay, and asked that the festival check patrons' IDs.

I'm not surprised: director

Thunska released the follow¬ing statement:

"I'm not surprised about the ban. Since hearing last month that my documentary would be viewed by the Culture Ministry's censorship watchdogs, I thought my film might be banned. But I wondered about the reason. It's not because of the nudity or depiction of the male organ but because of political issues. The ban is like we're stepping backward. We can't present the facts about things happening in our own country.

Freedom of expression?

"However I think the ban will benefit me. It'll be another controversial case study in the Thai film circle in which we think we have freedom of expression, but in fact we don't.

"From now on, it's my own right to continue my own style. I don't care anymore about censorship. I'll give up my worries and fears and think positively. This is my opportunity to be more free.

"I don't really care about it anymore and will do what I believe in. And this is my true fight against the censorship. Thank you krub, Thailand."