Friday, June 20, 2008

Still time for The Truth Be Told


The scenes in Thailand today are eerily similar to those of two years ago when anti-government protests were calling for the prime minister to resign. Now, instead of "Thaksin! Get out!" the cries are "Samak! Get out!"

Absolutely Bangkok has done a bang-up job of live blogging today's demonstrations, as has Bangkok Pundit.

An opportune way to revisit the protests of 2006 would be to catch a screening of The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong. This documentary was shot by director Pimpaka Towira over three years from 2003 to 2006, following media activist Supinya in her legal battles against the Shin empire.

The movie has been screening at 7pm daily since May 29 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld in Bangkok, as part of the Extra Virgin Director's Screen series.

I had kind of hoped for some of Bangkok's political bloggers to give the film a look, and perhaps write their own thoughts about it. I didn't see that happen so much though, at least not in the English-language blogs I'm able to follow. Absolutely Bangkok reprinted my review from last year, and some kind comments were made there about the film, calling it "inspirational", though "quite noisy" was another comment. FACT also had a write-up about the film.

Pimpaka says around 10 or 12 people a day have filed in to see it, which doesn't sound impressive, given that Pimpaka herself has estimated there are between 5,000 and 10,000 indie film lovers in Bangkok. But really, it's something, considering the film is playing to multiplex mall crowds that normally wouldn't see a documentary, especially one as political as this one, even if it is being touted as a family drama. So by the time the film ends its run on Wednesday night, around 300 or so people will have seen it and perhaps make a difference, or see things a bit differently.

The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong screens at 7pm daily on June 25 at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld. Tickets are 140 baht.

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