Censor must die
150 mins, Thai, documentary, 2013

Censor, not the censors, not the Film Board, but Censor the monstrous entity embedded in Thai society, a lumbering prehistoric beast with prejudices and a life of its own. It is this that must be slain by those among its victims who dare to challenge dinosaurs where angels fear to tread and reason does not exist.
When ‘Shakespeare Must Die’, a Thai adaptation of ‘Macbeth’, that supreme song of tyrannical rule, is banned by the Yingluck Shinawatra government for reasons of national security, producer Manit Sriwanichpoom begins an epic trek through the corridors of power to unban his Shakespearean horror movie; from the Cultural Ministry, that had funded and then banned his film, to the Senate and the Human Rights Commission, all the way to the Administrative Court where he is suing the government for abuse of power.

Wherever he went, amidst political upheaval in a land of fear, a camera followed him, into secret places long hidden from the sun, where witnesses are not welcome. The resulting cinema verite is the living story of a struggle for justice and human dignity, for the fundamental right to freedom of expression, which Thai filmmakers do not have. This is a dark cinematic record of democracy in action, in all its farcical, obscene and heartbreaking details.

A film by Ing K & Manit Sriwanichpoom
Shot, Edited & Directed by Ing K
Music : Mongkol Utok
Post-production : Navi Hanumahn