 | Beads on a StringBy Dr Yuangrat Wedel and Paul Wedel All too often left out of the spotlight, the history of southern Thailand is nonetheless fascinating and important to the understanding of the kingdom’s development. Helping to correct this oversight is a couple with all the right credentials – Dr Yuangrat Wedel, an eminent academic and researcher with family links to the south, and Paul Wedel, one of this country’s most experienced journalists, author and member of the board of the Fulbright Foundation in Thailand. Together, this husband and wife team have written a novel that not only entertains but also shines some of that missing spotlight on this still little known region. “Siam at the turn of the 19th century. Four families in the southern peninsula are tied together by ambition, revenge, love and tragedy. A young Malay imprisoned for rape reinvents himself as a Siamese aristocrat in royal service. A beautiful young Thai woman seizes control of the family casino and defies the king’s ban on gambling to form an underground criminal operation A guilt-ridden Thai-Chinese sailor seeks enlightenment and purpose as a wandering Buddhist monk. A former slave fights to escape the domination of a Chinese secret society gangster and rises in the increasingly powerful police force. A recreation of life in southern Siam at a time of wrenching change, Beads on a String weaves together these stories and others, immersing readers in a gripping epic, full of intrigue and insight.” Published by River Books Co Ltd. Tel. 66 2 622-1900, 224-6686 Email: [email protected] www.riverbooksbk.com |
Thai Cinema UncensoreBy Matthew Hunt Thai Cinema Uncensored is the first full-length study of Thai film censorship. Informed by access to rare and controversial films, the author provides a history of film censorship in Thailand from its beginnings when films were censored by the police for ideological reasons, to the present when issues such as politics, religion and sex are the main reasons for Thai films being banned. Although a rating system was finally introduced in 2008, film censorship remains bureaucratic, opaque, and conservative. The book also examines how Thai filmmakers approach culturally sensitive subjects, and how their films have been censored as a result. It contains interviews with ten leading directors, including candid and extended conversations with Thai New Wave veterans Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Pen-ek Ratanaruang. The directors all discuss their most controversial films, which range from mainstream studio movies to independent arthouse releases, and explain their responses to censorship: some took the censors to court, while others withdrew their films from Thailand altogether. Matthew Hunt is a former features writer and journalism lecturer who moved to Thailand from the UK in 2004 and writes about Thai culture on his website, Dateline Bangkok. Published by Silkworm Books [email protected] www.silkwormbooks.com |  |
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