The Truth Be Told in Rotterdam

Another Thai film is going to screen at the International Film Festival Rotterdam - Pimpaka Towira's The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong.

This political documentary premiered in Thailand last year at the inaugural Digital Forum. It was in the works for more than four years, following the case of media activist Supinya Klangnarong as she was sued in 2003 by Shin Corp., the massive telecoms firm owned by the family of then-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The film was about finished when Thaksin was ousted in a military coup. So this epic documentary covers a tumultuous chapter in Thai history, from the oligarchical rule of Thaksin, the anti-Thaksin protests, the clueless authoritarism of the junta and a bit of the chilling post-coup atmosphere.

I thought it was a pretty important film, so much so that it made my Top 5 Thai Films of 2007.

At Rotterdam, it will be showing in the Exploding Cinema: New Dragon Inns program, alongside Only Child, Upward, Downward, Forward, Backward, Rightward and Leftward (Du sheng zi) by outspoken Chinese director Cui Zi'en.

Two other Thai films at Rotterdam will be in competition: Wonderful Town by Aditya Assarat, screening in the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition, and The Rocket by Uruphont Raksasad, in the Tiger Awards Competition for Short Films.

(Via IFFR press release)