Filmmakers threaten to defy screening ban

Bangkok Post
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/289230/filmmakers-threaten-to-defy-screening-ban

The producer of the banned film Shakespeare Tong Tai, or Shakespeare Must Die, said he will get the movie screened even if it means he is sent to jail.

Manit Sriwanichpoom also urged the Prime Minister to end the banning of films altogether because it hinders the development of the Thai film industry.

Manit and some of the crew of Shakespeare Must Die, including director Ing Kanjanavanit and the film's lead actors, staged a rally in front of Government House yesterday.

They submitted a letter of appeal against the ban to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who chairs the National Board of Film and Video.

Manit said he did not want the film to only be screened abroad since he had made it for Thai people.

"If we still do not get permission to screen the film, we will show it anyway even if we might end up in jail. We are willing to sacrifice ourselves to condemn the undemocratic nature of the government," Manit said.

In its ban order, the Ministry of Culture's Office of Film and Video says it could not give permission for the film to be shown because it "undermines the unity of people in the country".

Manit said it is unacceptable for the committee to presume a film audience would not be able to separate a movie from reality.

"I don't know how a movie could undermine the unity of people. A character may wrap his head with red cloth but he is not representative of the red shirts. It's because the theme colours of Macbeth [which the film is based on] are red and black," he said.

Mr Manit said that the film is more about a struggle between good and evil in the mind of a human being. After all, it is greed and the lust for power that leads the main character to his death.

"How could the committee ban a moral movie like this?" he asked.