FILM RELEASE DELAYS: New censors are stopping the show

Backlog of work keeping new movies off shelves

BANGKOK: -- Film fans may have noticed that not a single new movie has been released on DVD, VCD or Telemovies (direct-to-video) over the past two weeks.

Following setbacks due to the transfer of the task of censorship from the Culture Ministry to the Royal Thai Police, more than a hundred home entertainment movies are waiting to be censored, resulting in the lack of new releases on the market.

The delays have led to complaints from the body of movie production companies known as The Thai Motion Picture Industry Association (THAMPA), who say that the setbacks are having a devastating effect on the home entertainment business which THAMPA president Worachart Rodthanom reported is worth Bt10 billion per year.

With more than 300 movies released each month, it usually takes just three days for the censorship board at the Interior Ministry’s Royal Thai Police to censor and give authorisation to distributors to release movies onto the market.

However, it has been two weeks since the shift and not a single movie has passed the new censorship team.

Following discussions among its members, THAMPA will today submit a letter to Interior Minister, ACM Kongsak Wantana, to ask the ministry to take on the censorship work again for at least six months to a year to restore the flow of business. It will also suggest the Culture Ministry’s Culture Watch group, who is responsible for the censorship, take guidance from the Royal Thai Police to enable them to work faster.

Worachart added the delay has caused estimated damage to the industry worth Bt100 million during the past two weeks.

Worachart said the hold-up at the Culture Ministry is being caused by the complicated censorship process. He said censorship teams at the Royal Thai Police were able to authorise the home entertainment products for release onto the market immediately and that there was more than one team. However, he said the Culture Watch group is just one team and has to go through three processes before handing the censored products to Ladda Tangsupachai, Culture Watch director and the sole authority who has the last word on censorship.

“We’re really suffering”, said Kitti Pakdevijit, a telemovie director. “When one movie can’t sell, we can’t move on to making a new one because we haven’t got the money. It’s a domino effect.”

However, Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong, said the work was not being delayed as much as it appeared and that preparations had been underway since March this year and the facilities were already in place. He said the only problem was the censorship officers, mostly police officers, had failed to opt for transfers due to concerns about losing various benefits including their chances of promotion, if they were relocated.

“Don’t assume the worst just yet,” said Uraiwan. “We just need time to adjust, this is new to all of us.”

She said she understood the delays were causing damage to the industry which is why she had split the working board into two groups and urged them to work faster.

--The Nation 2005-09-30

FILM RELEASE DELAYS: New censors are stopping the show

Backlog of work keeping new movies off shelves

BANGKOK: -- Film fans may have noticed that not a single new movie has been released on DVD, VCD or Telemovies (direct-to-video) over the past two weeks.

Following setbacks due to the transfer of the task of censorship from the Culture Ministry to the Royal Thai Police, more than a hundred home entertainment movies are waiting to be censored, resulting in the lack of new releases on the market.

The delays have led to complaints from the body of movie production companies known as The Thai Motion Picture Industry Association (THAMPA), who say that the setbacks are having a devastating effect on the home entertainment business which THAMPA president Worachart Rodthanom reported is worth Bt10 billion per year.

With more than 300 movies released each month, it usually takes just three days for the censorship board at the Interior Ministry’s Royal Thai Police to censor and give authorisation to distributors to release movies onto the market.

However, it has been two weeks since the shift and not a single movie has passed the new censorship team.

Following discussions among its members, THAMPA will today submit a letter to Interior Minister, ACM Kongsak Wantana, to ask the ministry to take on the censorship work again for at least six months to a year to restore the flow of business. It will also suggest the Culture Ministry’s Culture Watch group, who is responsible for the censorship, take guidance from the Royal Thai Police to enable them to work faster.

Worachart added the delay has caused estimated damage to the industry worth Bt100 million during the past two weeks.

Worachart said the hold-up at the Culture Ministry is being caused by the complicated censorship process. He said censorship teams at the Royal Thai Police were able to authorise the home entertainment products for release onto the market immediately and that there was more than one team. However, he said the Culture Watch group is just one team and has to go through three processes before handing the censored products to Ladda Tangsupachai, Culture Watch director and the sole authority who has the last word on censorship.

“We’re really suffering”, said Kitti Pakdevijit, a telemovie director. “When one movie can’t sell, we can’t move on to making a new one because we haven’t got the money. It’s a domino effect.”

However, Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong, said the work was not being delayed as much as it appeared and that preparations had been underway since March this year and the facilities were already in place. He said the only problem was the censorship officers, mostly police officers, had failed to opt for transfers due to concerns about losing various benefits including their chances of promotion, if they were relocated.

“Don’t assume the worst just yet,” said Uraiwan. “We just need time to adjust, this is new to all of us.”

She said she understood the delays were causing damage to the industry which is why she had split the working board into two groups and urged them to work faster.

--The Nation 2005-09-30

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Give me a break. Thai TV has as much crap as Hollywood movies... with an even heavier dose of womanizing than Hollywood could get away with.

Gotta run... going to a brothel that doesn't exist. Oh and, tonight I'll go to a Go Go Bar that doesn't exist.

Long live the Crusades!!!

FILM RELEASE DELAYS: New censors are stopping the show

However, Culture Minister Uraiwan Thienthong, said the work was not being delayed as much as it appeared and that preparations had been underway since March this year and the facilities were already in place. He said the only problem was the censorship officers, mostly police officers, had failed to opt for transfers due to concerns about losing various benefits including their chances of promotion, if they were relocated.

“Don’t assume the worst just yet,” said Uraiwan. “We just need time to adjust, this is new to all of us.”

Another well-planned project going tits-up

Looking forward to more and more movies with pixels all over them obliterating such terrible nasty things like guns, cigarettes, alcohol, and boobies.

Looking forward to more and more movies with pixels all over them obliterating such terrible nasty things like guns, cigarettes, alcohol, and boobies.

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Boooobies (in my best Homer Simpson voice)

Being a censor is thirsty work and they need to drink a lot of tea......more tea money please......

-"Hey let's watch that movie again!"

-"But we have 200 more to watch and censor..."

-"Forget it, we sold them at Panthip".

I don't think i'll ever understand this aspect of Thai culture. Literally a few miles away you have chicks shaking their asses in front of hundreds of horny foreigners and the best thing they can come up with is censoring hollywood movies? These legislators live in some kind of absurdist alternate reality that we will never be privy to.