Thai director takes fight to censors

April 01, 2008 BANGKOK - Censorship in Thailand has a long and complicated history, with the powers that be resorting to everything from watered-down news reports to blurred nudity to outright bans, depending on the year and the topic. Though the system has seen many Thai films avoid any major cuts, and a few go on to break attendance records and sell overseas -- the violent martial-arts epic "Ong Bak" or the disquieting ghost film "Shutter" to name but two -- others still fall pray to what filmmakers say is an arbitrary code hurtful to the industry. There was a glimmer of hope at the recent introduction of Thailand's first film ratings system.  But on March 12, the Censorship Board upheld its year-old decision to cut parts of director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's autobiographical film "Syndromes and a Century."

Subscribe to the Hollywood Reporter and see the entertainment industry from its best angle: the inside looking out. Complete access to real-time news and exclusive analysis that goes behind the scenes from film to television, home video to digital media.

   Subscribe now.