Aspiring Thai filmmakers turn their lenses to troubled South

Young Thai filmmakers are using their cameras as a tool for peace, training their lenses on the Kingdomีs insurgency-torn South to try to promote understanding between Muslims and Buddhists.

The short films are on show this week at the fourth World Film Festival of Bangkok, and organisers hope the project will create a new generation of filmmakers driven by a desire for social change.

าWhen they first came to the project, the filmmakers had just a few ideas about reconciliation,ำ said Pasakorn Intoo-Marn, a freelance filmmaker and organiser of the Film for Peace project.

Over 1,500 people have been killed in the three southern provinces in a shadowy rebellion that erupted there in January 2004. Analysts say that cross-border crime plays a large part in the violence, but reports linking Muslims with bombings have created tension between Muslim and other communities.

าPeople (from Muslim and non-Muslim communities) donีt understand each other in the three provinces,ำ says Bounmy Sirisavath, who worked with charity Action Aid on the film project. าAll the things we are doing are to promote peace down in the South.ำ

After securing funding last year, Pasakorn placed an advert in a national film magazine inviting aspiring directors to send ideas for short films about the South.

Over 300 people applied, and the 11 chosen directors ranged from a group of students in their 20s who had never held a camera before to professional filmmakers looking to use their skills to highlight social issues.

The completed films then toured the country, provoking debate at universities in the North and South of Thailand, before ending up at the film festival.