Vichart Somkaew’s latest short film The Letter from Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ) features 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.
The film is silent, except for ambient sounds recorded at night in a quiet neighbourhood. It avoids the explanatory captions of Vichart’s previous films 112 News from Heaven and Cremation Ceremony (ประวัติย่อของบางสิ่งที่หายไป), instead letting Arnon’s words stand alone. This makes the film all the more powerful, and emphasises the hopelessness of Arnon’s situation.
The Letter from Silence’s focus on Arnon’s letters themselves has echoes of another short film with a similar title, Prap Boonpan’s Letter from the Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ). Prap’s film documented the suicide note left by Nuamthong Praiwan, who had protested against the 2006 coup by crashing his taxi into a tank.
The Letter from Silence, which is dedicated to Arnon and other political prisoners, was shown as part of this year’s online Short Film Marathon (หนังสั้นมาราธอน) on 5th November. Vichart has announced plans to combine it with 112 News from Heaven and Cremation Ceremony into an hour-long portmanteau film, Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy. Arnon’s letters have been translated into English by the Article 112 Project website.
The film is silent, except for ambient sounds recorded at night in a quiet neighbourhood. It avoids the explanatory captions of Vichart’s previous films 112 News from Heaven and Cremation Ceremony (ประวัติย่อของบางสิ่งที่หายไป), instead letting Arnon’s words stand alone. This makes the film all the more powerful, and emphasises the hopelessness of Arnon’s situation.
The Letter from Silence’s focus on Arnon’s letters themselves has echoes of another short film with a similar title, Prap Boonpan’s Letter from the Silence (จดหมายจากความเงียบ). Prap’s film documented the suicide note left by Nuamthong Praiwan, who had protested against the 2006 coup by crashing his taxi into a tank.
The Letter from Silence, which is dedicated to Arnon and other political prisoners, was shown as part of this year’s online Short Film Marathon (หนังสั้นมาราธอน) on 5th November. Vichart has announced plans to combine it with 112 News from Heaven and Cremation Ceremony into an hour-long portmanteau film, Contemporary Thai Political Trilogy. Arnon’s letters have been translated into English by the Article 112 Project website.
Arnon led a protest at Democracy Monument on 3rd August 2020, one of the first rallies calling for reform of the monarchy. The speech he delivered at that event was published as The Monarchy and Thai Society (สถาบันพระมหากษัตริย์กับสังคมไทย). He has also written a book of poetry, เหมือนบอดใบ้ไพร่ฟ้ามาสุดทาง (‘we subjects, as if mute and blind, have found ourselves at the end of the line’). A documentary about him, We Need to Talk About อานนท์ (‘we need to talk about Arnon’), was screened at Phatthalung Micro Cinema earlier this year. Last year, Arnon’s portrait, titled The Lawyer, was painted by Wana Wanlayongkoon.
