Variety Via 2 Bangkok: Thai Censorship Board Cuts Up Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film "Syndromes and a Century"

Thai director withdraws 'Syndromes' Weerasethakul at odds with censors

By KONG RITHDEE

Variety.com

BANGKOK -- Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul has withdrawn his film "Syndromes and a Century" from commercial release after censors demanded cuts, which he says are unreasonable.

Censorship board responded by threatening to make the cuts itself and has refused to return the print to distributor Bioscope.

Thai censors have demanded that three scenes be cut from arthouse pic, a move that has stunned producers and local cinephiles and raised further questions about a moral crackdown under the country's military-backed government.

"Syndromes" preemed in competition at last September's Venice Film Festival and has since collected awards on the fest circuit. It is a Thai-French-Austrian co-production commissioned as part of the New Crowned Hope series celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

Controversial scenes in the movie about the memories of two doctors include an image of a young monk casually strumming a guitar; a scene of four doctors drinking whisky in a hospital storeroom; and a scene of a male doctor kissing his girlfriend in the hospital's locker room.

A representative from the Thai Medical Council said that the scenes involving doctors are improper and do not portray good conduct by medical professionals. "Drinking liquor is OK, but drinking it in a hospital is not," Supawat Pothong of the Council's law department said.

The scene showing the monk playing the guitar is against the Buddhist precepts, according to the censorship board.

Continued


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This is definitely another "jump the shark" moment for Thailand's best and brightest in the moral crusader bureaucracy.

Don't these idiots get that movies are fiction. The board wants to cut the movie because it harms the image of doctors and monks by portraying them in a politically incorrect light.

1. Doctors drinking whiskey at work
2. A monk strumming a guitar

This shit is what they think will bring down Thai civilization, yet the censorship board could give a fuck about all the horrible TV shows and movies that are everywhere on TV, in the video shops, and in the movie houses.

I haven't seen "Syndromes" and it could be horrible, but this is a film that is getting a lot of play all over the world, especially for an art house film. You'd think the government would be happy that a Thai artist is getting some international recognition. Instead, it wants to butcher the film.

Why didn't these assholes butcher "King Naresuan" which was filled with blatant lies and historical inaccuracies? Of course, we know the answer to that question.

Why not censor that stupid gay cowboy movie that is both offensive to gays and cowboys?