Ing K.’s Shakespeare Must Die (เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) was banned by the Ministry of Culture in 2012. In an interview for Thai Cinema Uncensored, Ing didn’t mince her words, calling the censor board “a bunch of trembling morons with the power of life and death over our films.” At an event last year, she described her furious reaction when the Administrative Court rejected her appeal in 2017: “อาจจะใกล้เป็นผู้ก่อการร้ายมากที่สุดในชีวิตนะ” (‘that might be the closest I’ve ever been to becoming a terrorist’).
Thai Cinema Uncensored features an insider’s account from a member of the appeals committee, who said he was obliged by his department head to vote against releasing the film: “I had to vote no, because it was an instruction from my director. But if I could have voted freely, I would have voted yes.” The book also includes a complete account of the film’s censorship history.
Ing fought the censors all the way to the Supreme Court, which finally lifted the ban on 20th February 2024. She documented her legal battle in the film Censor Must Die (เซ็นเซอร์ต้องตาย), which follows producer Manit Sriwanichpoom as he files a case with the Office of the National Human Rights Commission. Censor Must Die will be shown at Cinema Oasis in Bangkok tomorrow, to mark the second anniversary of Ing’s Supreme Court victory.
Thai Cinema Uncensored features an insider’s account from a member of the appeals committee, who said he was obliged by his department head to vote against releasing the film: “I had to vote no, because it was an instruction from my director. But if I could have voted freely, I would have voted yes.” The book also includes a complete account of the film’s censorship history.
Ing fought the censors all the way to the Supreme Court, which finally lifted the ban on 20th February 2024. She documented her legal battle in the film Censor Must Die (เซ็นเซอร์ต้องตาย), which follows producer Manit Sriwanichpoom as he files a case with the Office of the National Human Rights Commission. Censor Must Die will be shown at Cinema Oasis in Bangkok tomorrow, to mark the second anniversary of Ing’s Supreme Court victory.
Censor Must Die’s most revealing scene takes place at the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture: in the lobby, a TV plays a video demonstrating polite and respectful Thai etiquette. The video encapsulates the ministry’s didactic and outdated interpretation of Thai culture, and it was parodied by the mock instructional video “How to Behave Elegantly Like a Thai” in Sorayos Prapapan’s film Arnold Is a Model Student (อานนเป็นนักเรียนตัวอย่าง).
Censor Must Die premiered at the Freedom on Film (สิทธิหนังไทย) seminar in 2013. It was shown a few months later at the Film Archive, and had private screenings at Silpakorn University and the Friese-Greene Club. Its first commercial screenings were at Cinema Oasis in 2020, and it has been shown there on a regular basis since 2024.
Censor Must Die premiered at the Freedom on Film (สิทธิหนังไทย) seminar in 2013. It was shown a few months later at the Film Archive, and had private screenings at Silpakorn University and the Friese-Greene Club. Its first commercial screenings were at Cinema Oasis in 2020, and it has been shown there on a regular basis since 2024.
