The annual
Short Film Marathon (หนังสั้นมาราธอน) begins on 4th November, and more than 600 films will be shown online, in alphabetical order, until 4th December. The cream of the crop will then be selected for The 29th Thai Short Film and Video Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์สั้น ครั้งที่ 29) at the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, which runs from 13th to 21st December.
On 16th November, the
Marathon will feature twenty shorts by Teeraphan Ngowjeenanan, all titled
A Teeraphanny Joint (in homage to Spike Lee). Teeraphan’s films are all related to the recent student protest movement, and their subtitles are:
- กษัตริย์ — รัฐธรรมนูญ (‘king — constitution’)
- หนูรู้หนูมันเลว (‘I know I’m bad’)
- เพลงชาติผู้ประท้วง (‘protest anthem’)
- พื้นที่การใช้กระสุนจริง (‘live firing zone’)
- คัลท์เคยอยู่นี่ (‘Kult was here’)
- ร้องเพลงรัก (‘sing a love song’)
- ขอให้มีค่ำคืนที่ดี (‘have a nice night’)
- ปล่อยเพื่อนเรา (‘free our friends’)
- ศิลปะบนถนน (‘street art’)
- มาชุมนุมกันโดยได้นัดหมาย (‘rally by appointment’)
- วิกฤตการณ์น้ำ (‘water crisis’)
- ทักษะการสื่อสาร (‘communication skills’)
- เราเต้น เราร้อง (‘we dance, we sing’)
- คำขอยกเลิก (‘cancellation request’)
- ร้องเพลงรัก 2 (‘sing a love song 2’)
- เชียร์ขึ้นไป (‘cheer up’)
- การพูดในเสรีภาพ (‘free speech’)
- ห่อหุ้ม (‘wrapped up’)
- แนวรับ — แนวต้าน (‘support — resistance’)
- ประเทศนี้เป็นของราษฎร (‘this country belongs to the people’)
A Fire 9 Kilometers Away
The
Marathon includes three films by Buariyate Eamkamol.
A Fire 9 Kilometers Away, previously shown at
Wildtype 2025 and the
Media Arts and Design Festival 2025 (บึงเบ๊ง), will be shown on 8th November, followed by
Red Is the Orangest Color on 15th November, and ตุลาอาลัย (‘October Mourning’) on 23rd November.
A Fire 9 Kilometers Away is a blend of documentary and fiction, and features a poem dedicated to Samaphan Srithep, one of the youngest victims of
the crackdown on protesters in Bangkok in 2010. Projected as a diptych, the film makes ironic juxtapositions, showing military snipers on 10th April 2010 alongside footage of revellers firing water pistols during the April Songkran festival.
Red Is the Orangest Color
Buariyate’s
Red Is the Orangest Color marks the fifteenth anniversary of the 2010 crackdown. The film’s title refers to red-shirt former Pheu Thai voters who now support the progressive ‘orange movement’ represented by the
People’s Party. This trend is hardly surprising, as
Pheu Thai broke their repeated pledges not to join forces with the pro-military
Palang Pracharath.
Antipsychotics
The
Marathon also features three films by Vichart Somkaew.
Antipsychotics will be shown on 5th November, followed by his
Contemporary Political Trilogy (ไตรภาคการเมืองร่วมสมัยไทย) on 7th November, and
When My Father Was a Communist (เมื่อพ่อผมเป็นคอมมิวนิสต์) on 19th November.
At the start of
Antipsychotics, Vichart reveals that he suffers from depression. In a voiceover, he describes his symptoms, which include hallucinations and feelings of paranoia. On screen, we see profiles of various antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs, and their possible side effects, accompanied by stock footage.
The director also recounts the traumatic experience that he feels led to his condition: the humiliating hazing rituals and violent punishments he endured during his conscription. “I drew a red card and was drafted into the military service”, he says, before describing the physical and mental harm he was subjected to.
There have been occasional news reports of cadets being injured — and worse — during military training sessions, though there is less coverage of the potential psychological toll that Vichart describes. At the end of his powerful and ultimately optimistic film, he argues that conscription should be replaced by voluntary service.
Antipsychotics has previously been screened at the
Chard Festival (ฉาด เฟสติวัล). It’s currently on show as part of the
Open Screen project in Khon Kaen.
Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy
Vichart’s
Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy is an hour-long portmanteau project combining three of his previous short films:
Cremation Ceremony (ประวัติย่อของบางสิ่งที่หายไป),
112 News from Heaven, and
The Letter from Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ). The anthology’s structure, divided into three segments, reflects what the director sees as the three eras of modern Thai politics: 1932–1957 (the abolition of absolute monarchy and the establishment of democratic institutions), 1957–1992 (prolonged military dictatorship, culminating in the ‘Black May’ crackdown), and 1992 to the present day (liberal reforms, followed by political polarisation).
Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy begins with Vichart’s most directly political film,
Cremation Ceremony, in which the faces of three politicians stare impassively at the viewer. The three men — Anutin Charnvirakul, the Prime Minister; Abhisit Vejjajiva, a former PM; and former army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha — are responsible for three tragic injustices. Anutin oversaw the Thai government’s initially sluggish response to the coronavirus pandemic. Abhisit authorised the shooting of red-shirt protesters in 2010. Prayut led
the 2014 coup, and his military government revived
lèse-majesté prosecutions.
Vichart sets fire to photographs of the three men, their faces distorting as the photographic paper burns. There is no sound except the crackling of the flame. This symbolic ritual is a reminder of the deaths of Covid victims, red-shirt protesters, and political dissidents, though it’s also a metaphorical act of retribution, as the three politicians have faced no consequences for their actions. (Anutin is a billionaire, Abhisit was cleared of all charges, and Prayut acted with total impunity.)
While the three portraits burn slowly, captions mourn the forgotten victims: red-shirts shot while sheltering in Wat Pathum Wanaram, political prisoners charged under article 112, and victims of the coronavirus. (
Cremation Ceremony originally ended on a hopeful note with a final caption explaining that pro-democracy parties had “emerged victorious” in
the 2023 election. But after the film’s release, the progressive
Move Forward Party was excluded from the governing coalition, and the optimistic caption has now been removed.)
Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy continues with
112 News from Heaven, which juxtaposes news that’s broadcast on all channels every day with news that goes unreported by mainstream outlets. On the soundtrack, an announcer reads a bulletin of royal news, a daily staple of Thai television and radio. This is contrasted with captions documenting news of “victims of the Thai state”.
Lèse-majesté is article 112 of the criminal code, hence the title
112 News from Heaven. The film’s captions feature 112 headlines from a 112-day period, detailing the custodial sentences given to those convicted of
lèse-majesté and the bail denied to those awaiting trial. It ends with a quote from
a royal walkabout: “We love them all the same.”
Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy’s final segment is
The Letter from Silence, a series of extracts from letters by lawyer and pro-democracy campaigner Arnon Nampa to his family, written while he serves a prison sentence for
lèse-majesté. Arnon’s letters are often heartbreaking, as he faces the prospect of many years in jail if convicted on further charges, separated from his wife and their two young children.
Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy was first shown last year in Phayao, as part of ซิเนมากลางนา (‘cinema in the middle of a rice field’). It has also been screened this year in Chiang Mai, at
Resonance of Revolt.
When My Father Was a Communist
For
When My Father Was a Communist, Vichart interviewed his father, Sawang, and other former members of the Communist Party of Thailand. The film is a valuable social history, as the veterans explain their decisions to join the CPT, and describe their experiences in the forests of Phatthalung.
When My Father Was a Communist is also a record of the state’s violent suppression of communist insurgents, hundreds (potentially thousands) of whom were burned in oil drums in 1972. These so-called ‘red barrel’ deaths were most prevalent in Phatthalung, and have never been officially investigated. (The names of the victims are listed before the film’s end credits.) There have been other documentaries about the red barrels, but
When My Father Was a Communist stands out for Vichart’s close connections to the subject: this is a deeply personal project, as he was born in Phatthalung, and he is documenting the memories of his elderly father.
The film notes that the repressive atmosphere of the 1970s has not disappeared. One speaker says that the political system has barely changed since the military dictatorship after the 1976 coup. Another makes a direct comparison between the suppression of political opponents then and now: “dissolving political parties, slapping people with Article 112 charges... It’s like arresting them and throwing them in red barrels, but they do it in a different way now.”
The film has been
screened around the country, including at
Phimailongweek (พิมายฬองวีค) in Korat. Its
most recent screening was at Hope Space in Bangkok last week.
A Sleepless Entity
Naphat Khunlam’s short film
A Sleepless Entity, screening on 16th November, is another
Marathon highlight. The film is a dystopian fantasy about a student filmmaker who dreams of expressing her creative freedom but is oppressed by the conformist education system.
It’s notable for its references to photographs of political conflicts. These include shots of
the gunman who hid his weapon in a Kolk popcorn bag, army snipers shooting people sheltering at Wat Pathum Wanaram, and police colonel Watcharin Niamvanichkul aiming his pistol while nonchalantly smoking a cigarette.
Happy New Year, Stranger
Chatchawan Thongchan’s
Happy New Year, Stranger (สวัสดีปีใหม่ คนไม่รู้จัก) will be shown on 2nd December. (It will also be screened
next month in Khon Kaen.)
The film opens with footage from
8th November 2020, when riot police fired tear gas to prevent demonstrators entering the Grand Palace to deliver an open letter addressed to the King. In a voiceover, Chatchawan explains that it was this protest movement that led to his political awakening: “This is where my political journey began... there were protests happening in 2020. That’s when I started to pay attention”.
This realisation of political consciousness is known in Thai as
ta sawang, and several directors — Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Yuthlert Sippapak, Chulayarnnon Siriphol, Thunska Pansittivorakul, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and Nontawat Numbenchapol — discussed their
ta sawang moments in interviews for
Thai Cinema Uncensored. But in the self-reflexive
Happy New Year, Stranger Chatchawan does something unique: he uses the film to articulate his own personal questions about politics and the monarchy.
Most of the material in
Happy New Year, Stranger was shot last year, at a vigil outside parliament calling for an amnesty for
lèse-majesté charges, and at a New Year’s Eve street party outside Bangkok Remand Prison held in solidarity with
lèse-majesté convicts detained there. At both events, live music was played, and in his director’s statement, Chatchawan describes these scenes as “a gift for political prisoners behind bars, allowing them to feel a sense of freedom.”
The Returning
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, will be screened on 2nd December. It has previously been shown as part of Wildtype 2025.
