20 September 2025

Chiang Mai International Fantastic Film Festival 2025



The Chiang Mai International Fantastic Film Festival 2025 opens today and runs until 27th September, with screenings taking place at the Chiang Mai branch of Major Cineplex. CIFAN is using ‘fantastic’ as an umbrella term for a diverse range of fantasy, sci-fi, and horror films with surreal or magical realist elements.

One of the highlights is Chookiat Sakveerakul’s Taklee Genesis (ตาคลี เจเนซิส), which features time travel, dinosaurs, kaiju monsters, zombies, cavemen, the Cold War, a dystopian future, and the 6th October 1976 massacre at Thammasat University, all woven together into an ambitious sci-fi epic. It will be shown in IMAX DMR format on 24th September, followed by a Q&A with Chookiat.

Taklee Genesis

Taklee Genesis


The prologue to Chookiat’s film takes place in May 1992 (an unspoken reference to ‘Black May’), when a young girl witnesses “dead bodies falling from the sky.” These are students who died during the Thammasat tragedy, their bodies teleported by the Taklee Genesis device, a time machine that can create alternate realities. As one character says: “Taklee Genesis was used to cover up a massacre.”

When the girl, Stella, grows up, she learns that her father was a CIA agent involved in the development of the Taklee Genesis. One of the project’s test subjects, Lawan, was transformed into a forest-dwelling spirit, like the monkey ghost in Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (ลุงบุญมีระลึกชาติ), another supernatural personification of the legacy of the Cold War.

Stella and her friend Kong use the Taklee Genesis to travel back in time to Thammasat on 6th October 1976, after Kong discovers that he is one of the massacre victims who fell from the sky. Chookiat recreates the violence of that day, showing Red Gaur militiamen gunning down students. A young boy stands alone on a balcony laughing at the carnage, in a reference to a smiling onlooker in a photograph by Neal Ulevich. (The artist Khai Maew created a model of the child, which he called Happy Boy.)

Thanks to the Taklee Genesis, Kong has the chance to fight back against the vigilantes who have stormed the campus. This fantasy scenario, in which a Thammasat victim is given the agency to tackle his potential killers, is similar to the alternate history narrative in Preecha Raksorn’s comic strip Once Upon a Time at..., in which the victim in Ulevich’s photograph escapes from his assailant.

Discussion of the Thammasat massacre was suppressed for years, not by the fictional Taklee Genesis device, but instead by successive military governments. Today, it’s primarily through photographs of the event, particularly the famous image by Ulevich, that the incident is remembered. In one of the film’s most powerful moments, Kong takes a roll of film from the camera of his Thammasat classmate and gives it to Stella, telling her: “Make sure we’re not forgotten.”

Taklee Genesis was screened in Bangkok last week, and at the Thai Film Archive earlier this year. It’s one of more than fifty films that reference the 1976 massacre, and many of those films are discussed in Thai Cinema Uncensored.

19 September 2025

49 ปี 6 ตุลา
(‘49 years since 6th Oct.’)



The forty-ninth anniversary of the 6th October 1976 massacre will be commemorated at Thammasat University next month. Two short plays will be staged at the Sri Burapha Auditorium on 6th October.

6 ตุลา x ราโชมอน (‘6 Oct. x Rashomon’), produced by the Politicle Theatre group, refers to differing historical accounts of the massacre, in the same way that Rashomon (羅生門) recounts a violent event from multiple perspectives. The title of the other play, Ultramarine: Threat, hints at a symbolic meaning of the colour blue.

The first event marking the forty-ninth anniversary took place last week. A similar commemoration was held on the forty-eighth anniversary last year.

Microwave Film Festival


Microwave Film Festival

Next week, the Microwave Film Festival will show a selection of nine key films from the Thai New Wave movement, a fantastic opportunity to see some of the country’s most popular and influential films from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Highlights include Nonzee Nimibutr’s Dang Bireley’s and Young Gangsters [sic] (2499 อันธพาลครองเมือง) and Nang Nak (นางนาก) on 27th September, Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s Fun Bar Karaoke (ฝันบ้าคาราโอเกะ) on 25th September, and Wisit Sasanatieng’s Tears of the Black Tiger (ฟ้าทะลายโจร) on 26th September. The festival runs from 24th to 28th September. Screenings will take place at the Suen Heng Plaza cinema in Sisaket.

Bangkok International Film Festival 2025


Bangkok International Film Festival 2025

After a long hiatus, the Bangkok International Film Festival returns this year. The organisers — THACCA, the Thailand Creative Culture Agency — are keen to stress that the event is under completely new management, after the corruption scandal associated with the festival in its previous incarnation. (The festival was originally sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and the head of the TAT received almost $2 million in bribes. She was given a fifty-year jail sentence in 2017.)

The new BKKIFF will take place at Icon Siam’s Cineconic cinema from 27th September to 15th October. One of the highlights will be a major retrospective of films by Chatrichalerm Yukol, one of Thailand’s greatest filmmakers. Chatrichalerm’s film His Name Is Karn (เขาชื่อกานต์) launched a wave of groundbreaking social realist Thai films in the mid 1970s, though he later directed a series of lavish state-sponsored epics such as The Legend of Suriyothai (สุริโยไท).

ความฝันของชายผู้กลายเป็นดาวฤกษ์
(‘the dream of a man who became a star’)



Today is the nineteenth anniversary of the 2006 coup, and Napat Treepalawisetkun’s new fantasy novel ความฝันของชายผู้กลายเป็นดาวฤกษ์ (‘the dream of a man who became a star’) explores the impact of that event on Thai society. In the book, ‘impact’ is taken literally, as a giant meteorite strikes the country in September 2006. The celestial object is a metaphor for the disruptive effects of the coup, though the book is also one of several recent novels that refer to the 1976 massacre at Thammast University.

The book will be released next month, a day before the anniversary of the Thammasat incident. Napat previously directed the film We Will Forget It Again (แล้วเราจะลืมมันอีกครั้ง), which addressed another tragic political milestone: the killing of protesters at Ratchaprasong in 2010. In Napat’s short drama, a victim of the crackdown returns as a ghost, a trickle of blood running down her face, to be reunited with her surviving daughters.

16 September 2025

Lucky Loser:
How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune
and Created the Illusion of Success


Lucky Loser

US President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the publisher and authors of Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success. The book, by New York Times reporters Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, was published last year. Buettner and Craig won the Pulitzer Prize for their investigations into Trump’s finances, and the book is an expanded account of their findings.

Trump’s lawsuit, filed yesterday at the US District Court in Florida, describes Lucky Loser as “filled with repugnant distortions and fabrications about President Trump”. He is seeking an extraordinary $15 billion in damages, though the case will almost certainly be dismissed, as the book is a work of meticulous investigative journalism. (The lawsuit specifies multiple passages that contain allegedly defamatory statements, on pp. 5–8, 69, 148, 159, 166, 184, 219, 270, 290, 300–301, 313, 352–354, 360, 366, 398, 444–445, and 448–449.)

(The lawsuit also cites three New York Times articles — one of which is an extract from the book — as defamatory. The articles were published online and in print, in the weeks leading up to last year’s US election, though the lawsuit refers only to the online versions.)

Yesterday is only the second time that Trump has personally taken legal action against a publisher during his presidency. The first occasion was earlier this year, when he sued The Wall Street Journal, claiming that a letter he wrote to Jeffrey Epstein didn’t exist. Since the WSJ lawsuit was filed, the letter has been published, and Trump continues to deny that he wrote it, even though it’s clearly signed by him.

Lucky Loser

Trump has sued numerous other media figures and news organisations over the years, including Bill Maher and CNN. He sued Bob Woodward for copyright infringement, though that case was dismissed. His lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll was also dismissed. His unsuccessful lawsuit against Timothy L. O’Brien’s book TrumpNation sought $5 billion in damages.

Trump has never won a libel case in court, though he has received settlements in two cases. ABC settled after he sued them last year. CBS also agreed to an out-of-court settlement earlier this year after he sued them in 2024.

Occasionally, Trump has filed defamation suits indirectly via his organisations or relatives. His brother sued their niece, Mary Trump, in 2020, though the case was dismissed. A suit filed against the NYT by his presidential campaign also failed. His wife won undisclosed damages from The Daily Telegraph in 2019, and she was awarded $3 million in damages from the Daily Mail in 2017.

Lucky Loser is the twenty-second Trump tome on the Dateline Bangkok bookshelf. The others are: TrumpNation, War, The Divider, Betrayal, Confidence Man, Fire and Fury, Too Much and Never Enough, Fear, Rage, Peril, I Alone Can Fix It, A Very Stable Genius, Inside Trump’s White House, The United States of Trump, Trump’s Enemies, The Trump White House, The Room Where It Happened, Team of Five, American Carnage, The Cost, and the audiobook The Trump Tapes.

Wildtype 2025


Wildtype 2025

Wildtype, the annual season of short films programmed by Chayanin Tiangpitayagorn, Wiwat Lertwiwatwongsa, and Sasawat Boonsri, returns this month for its sixteenth year. After being held largely online in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the event has been expanding during the past few years, with screenings around the country in 2022, 2023, and 2024.

This year is no exception, and there will be screenings at Buffalo Bridge Gallery in Bangkok, A.E.Y. Space in Songkhla, Chiang Mai University’s Department of Media Arts and Design, Don’t Be Selfish in Phayao, Us coffee shop in Phatthalung, Lorem Ipsum in Hat Yai, Noir Row Art Space in Udon Thani, Berng Nang Club in Khon Kaen, and Vongchavalitkul University’s Faculty of Communication Arts in Korat. Wildtype 2025 begins on 20th September.

The Returning
Oblivion

One of this year’s highlights is The Returning (วนเวียน), a short film by Supong Jitmuang documenting the growing attendance at events commemorating the 6th October 1976 Thammasat University massacre since 2020. (Supong also directed the documentary Mob 2020–2021.)

The short film Oblivion (เลือน), a collage of found footage woven into a magical realist allegory, is also included. Directed under the pseudonym Burindh the Golden Goby, it’s another of the fifty or more films that refer to the 1976 massacre.

The Returning and Oblivion will both be shown as part of a programme titled The Party and the Guest at Buffalo Bridge and Don’t Be Selfish on 21st September, at CMU on 23rd September, and at Vongchavalitkul on 1st October. Wildtype runs until 3rd October.

11 September 2025

The Ordinary


The Ordinary

Prapassorn Konmuang’s The Ordinary (คนธรรมดา) will be restaged on 19th September at Thammasat University. The play, a monologue about resistance to coups and authoritarianism, is directed by Thunratram Cheepnurat. The performance will take place at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, with advance tickets priced at ฿112. (Regular tickets cost ฿247.50, and 2475 is the Buddhist Era equivalent of 1932, the year that absolute monarchy was abolished.)

19th September


19th September is a significant date, being the fifth anniversary of a protest at Thammasat in 2020, one of the largest student-led demonstrations since the 2014 coup. The play’s revival is one of a series of events organised by the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, and the Democracy Restoration Group, collectively titled ทบทวน 5 ปี 19 กันยา 2563 (‘looking back 5 years since 19th September 2020’).

The date also marks another anniversary, as the coup against Thaksin Shinawatra took place on 19th September 2006. That date appears in the titles of two books published by Same Sky: รัฐประหาร 19 กันยา (‘19th Sept. coup’) and 19–19.

112


The ticket price for The Ordinary is also symbolic: ฿112 refers to the lèse-majesté law, which is article 112 of the Thai criminal code. Similarly, the catalogue for Wittawat Tongkeaw’s exhibition Re/Place cost ฿112, and two poetry books — เหมือนบอดใบ้ไพร่ฟ้ามาสุดทาง (‘we subjects, as if mute and blind, have found ourselves at the end of the line’) and ราษฎรที่รักทั้งหลาย (‘dear citizens’) — were also sold at that price.

There have been other subtle cultural references to 112 in recent years. Another play, Wilderness (รักดงดิบ), included a recipe stating that food should “dry in the sun for 112 hours”. Elevenfinger’s single Land of Compromise was released at 1:12pm. Vichart Somkaew’s documentary 112 News from Heaven features 112 headlines from a 112-day period, and 112 photographic portraits. The Evidences of Resistance [sic] (วัตถุพยานแห่งการต่อต้าน) exhibition was held in room 112 at Thammasat’s Museum of Anthropology.

Jaws


Jaws

Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, the original summer blockbuster, was released fifty years ago, in 1975. To mark its fiftieth anniversary, a new documentary — Jaws @ 50 — was released on blu-ray, and the film is being rereleased in cinemas worldwide. Jaws will open in Thailand on 25th September.

Jaws was shown five years ago at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, as part of the World Class Cinema (ทึ่ง! หนังโลก) season. A planned screening at Scala in Bangkok was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jaws

There are two other classics also being rereleased this month, both on IMAX screens: Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫) opens today in IMAX DMR format (and at regular cinemas), and Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight opens on 18th September.

When The Dark Knight was shown at the Paragon Cineplex IMAX on its original release in 2008, it was projected in 70mm. Sadly, the 70mm projector was removed in 2020 after repeatedly breaking down. In fact, from today, the Paragon IMAX cinema is temporarily closed for renovation, meaning that Thailand has no full-size IMAX screen currently in operation.

10 September 2025

“Sending him to hospital was not legal...”



The Supreme Court has sentenced Thaksin Shinawatra to one year in prison, with immediate effect, after ruling that his previous transfer to a police hospital was unlawful. The court ordered Thaksin to be sent to Bangkok Remand Prison yesterday morning, and he was transferred from there to the high-security Klongprem Central Prison.

Thaksin returned to Thailand from self-exile in 2023, and was taken directly from the airport to be sentenced in his outstanding corruption trial. He received an eight-year sentence in that case, though on his first night in jail he was transferred to hospital for unspecified medical reasons.

His eight-year sentence was commuted to one year following a royal pardon, and he was released on parole early last year. He had spent six months in hospital, and had not served any of his sentence behind bars. Announcing the one-year sentence yesterday, the judge said: “Sending him to hospital was not legal... staying in hospital cannot count as a prison term”.

After being paroled, Thaksin was photographed (rather unconvincingly) in a neck brace and sling, though he was accused of conspiring with prison staff to gain admittance to hospital under false pretenses. Those suspicions were confirmed yesterday, when the Supreme Court ruled that his hospital stay had indeed been a ruse to avoid jail time. The investigation was nicknamed the ‘14th floor case’, as Thaksin stayed in a suite on the 14th floor of the Police General Hospital.

On 5th September, just four days before yesterday’s court ruling, Thaksin flew out of the country unexpectedly. After being briefly detained at the airport while immigration police confirmed that he wasn’t subject to a travel ban, he took a private jet to Dubai. This led to speculation that he had fled the country in anticipation of a guilty verdict (as he had in 2008), though he flew back to Thailand via Singapore two days ago.