Apichatpong Weerasethakul
© AFP/HO/FileBANGKOK (AFP) - "Syndromes and a Century" by director Apichatpong Weerasethakul recounts memories of his childhood and his parents, who were doctors at a rural Thai hospital.
It was among the films commissioned for Vienna's New Crowned Hope Festival to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth last year. The film went on to win praise at festivals in France, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Australia, among others.
But at home in Thailand, censors objected to four seemingly benign scenes -- including shots of Buddhist monks playing a guitar and flying a remote-control airplane.
"I feel ashamed to be a Thai citizen," Apichatpong said at a recent press conference in Bangkok. "The way I have been treated is very disrespectful, not only as a film maker, but also as a human being."
Censors also demanded that Apichatpong cut a scene in which a doctor mischievously reveals to her colleagues she has hidden whisky inside a prosthetic leg, and they decide to have a quick tipple in the hospital basement.
A fourth scene in which a doctor kisses his girlfriend in a hospital locker room also landed on the censor's editing floor.
Apichatpong refused to alter the film, and instead cancelled its planned release in Thailand last month.
The censors then refused to return the original print, for fear he would screen it without their permission, infuriating Apichatpong.
"As a filmmaker, I treat my work as my own children," Apichatpong said.
"When I conceive them, they have their own lives to live. If these offspring of mine cannot live in their own country, for whatever reason, let them be free elsewhere."
Two of Thailand's leading film bodies have launched an online petition drive, winning more than 4,500 signatures to call for the abolition of the 77-year-old Thai Film Act, which governs censorship of movies.
Thai filmmakers often feel that the censors' decisions are arbitrary, handed down by a panel of people with little interest in or knowledge of the industry, said Kong Rithdee, film critic for the Bangkok Post newspaper.
"('Syndromes and a Century') is small -- it does not have the backing of a big studio," added Kong, who has been writing about Apichatpong's films since the director's early days.
"This makes a big difference. If you have some connection, someone you can talk to, it may be negotiable."
The scandal over film censorship comes amid growing concerns about the military-backed government's attempts to clamp down on media more generally.
After ousting elected prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup last September, the military imposed stiff controls on the media -- blacking out some international news broadcasts, seizing a private television station, and blocking political websites.
Post-coup leaders earlier this month sparked an international controversy by blocking the video-sharing site YouTube in Thailand, over videos deemed offensive to the nation's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
"This seems to be a period when the government believes they have to purge every indecency," Kong said.
Apichatpong himself made no link between the current regime and this latest episode, however, noting censorship has long been an issue in Thailand.
The culture ministry is reportedly considering changes to the Thai Film Act, which would introduce a ratings system that filmmakers say would be more effective than censorship or bans.
But some fear the new rules could make things even worse.
"It seems they may leave the rules on censorship, and introduce a rating system as well," said Banchong Kosalwat, a professor at Thammasat University's school of mass communications who has campaigned to liberalise the law.
"They would censor a film first -- and then give it a rating. This would be a double lock on the industry."
©AFP