I will give an online presentation — Researching Film Censorship in Thailand — on 28th May for the Antwerp Research Institute for the Arts at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. The event, Research and Creation amid Asian Socio-political Sensitivity: Methods and Reflections, is a seminar on film censorship in Asia, and I will discuss the background to my book Thai Cinema Uncensored.
ARIA describes my session as follows: “Matthew Hunt will discuss the research process for his book “Thai Cinema Uncensored”, and the outcomes of that process. Challenges included a lack of cooperation from the Thai Ministry of Culture, and the initial reluctance of some directors to talk about their experiences of censorship. The interviews revealed a collective sense of political awakening among the directors, and a consistent set of grievances about the contemporary censorship system. However, the directors differed in their responses to censorship, depending on their commercial and ideological considerations, with some drawing attention and challenging the censors, while others worked under the radar. Previous accounts of Thai film censorship had cited the first film to be censored in the country (in 1923) and then jumped forward to 2007, ignoring the 80-year period in between. Filling in that gap involved an analysis of censorship policy over the last century, revealing its close connection to the country’s modern political history.”
This is my how I’m described on the seminar’s website: “Matthew Hunt is the author of “Thai Cinema Uncensored”, the first history of film censorship in Thailand and the first comprehensive survey of Thai political filmmaking. In addition to his academic work, Hunt has been actively involved in journalism and cultural commentary. He was editor of the current affairs magazine Encounter Thailand, and has written magazine articles on the Thai film industry. He was also a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), teaching courses on journalism and society. He has a master’s degree in visual culture from Coventry University (UK).”
This will be the third online lecture I have given. The others were for the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2021 and the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 2022.
ARIA describes my session as follows: “Matthew Hunt will discuss the research process for his book “Thai Cinema Uncensored”, and the outcomes of that process. Challenges included a lack of cooperation from the Thai Ministry of Culture, and the initial reluctance of some directors to talk about their experiences of censorship. The interviews revealed a collective sense of political awakening among the directors, and a consistent set of grievances about the contemporary censorship system. However, the directors differed in their responses to censorship, depending on their commercial and ideological considerations, with some drawing attention and challenging the censors, while others worked under the radar. Previous accounts of Thai film censorship had cited the first film to be censored in the country (in 1923) and then jumped forward to 2007, ignoring the 80-year period in between. Filling in that gap involved an analysis of censorship policy over the last century, revealing its close connection to the country’s modern political history.”
This is my how I’m described on the seminar’s website: “Matthew Hunt is the author of “Thai Cinema Uncensored”, the first history of film censorship in Thailand and the first comprehensive survey of Thai political filmmaking. In addition to his academic work, Hunt has been actively involved in journalism and cultural commentary. He was editor of the current affairs magazine Encounter Thailand, and has written magazine articles on the Thai film industry. He was also a lecturer at the Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), teaching courses on journalism and society. He has a master’s degree in visual culture from Coventry University (UK).”
This will be the third online lecture I have given. The others were for the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2021 and the Peace Research Institute Oslo in 2022.