Beyond Phad Thai

Cinema Oasis, a new independent arthouse cinema, will open in Bangkok this month. The cinema was established by director Ing K. and her partner, photographer Manit Sriwanichpoom. (They also run the Kathmandu photography gallery.)

Ing directed the banned film Shakespeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) and the documentary Censor Must Die (เซ็นเซอร์ต้องตาย). When I interviewed her in 2016, she said: "We have to keep on pointing out this ridiculous fact: that filmmakers are the only people without a legal right to freedom of expression. The only people who must submit their work to government inspection before being allowed out into the world."

The first event at Cinema Oasis will be Beyond Phad Thai (เผ็ดกว่าผัดไทย), a season of independent films, beginning with the excellent Tongpan (ทองปาน). Tongpan will be screened on 17th, 21st, 23rd, 25th, 28th, and 31st March; and 4th, 7th, and 11th April. The Beyond Phad Thai season finishes on 12th April.