Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 Inter-Asian Forum on Film Censorship

Description

This is the second virtual roundtable discussion for the new series – Theory/Praxis/Politics. This forum highlights film practitioners and programmers’ thoughts and reflections on the practices of censorship across Asia. Join our panelists, Sudarat Musikawong, Raymond Phathanavirangoon, and Thaiddhi, as they articulate their first-hand experiences in the field and unfurl the complexities of censorship both in the production and circulation of cinema.

Theory/Praxis/Politics is a webinar series working to advocate for and bring together perspectives of academics, filmmakers, programmers, civil servants, and other stakeholders with an interest in the question of censorship across Asia and its diasporas. We consider Asia as a productive site in which theory, practice, and politics overlap. The intersection allows us to question not only our understanding of censorship and the ways in which we engage with cinema in the region but also to reconsider the relationship between theory, aesthetics, and politics.

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RAYMOND PHATHANAVIRANGOON is a film producer and Executive Director of Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (SEAFIC). Previously he was programmer or delegate for Toronto International Film Festival, Hong Kong International Film Festival and Cannes Critics’ Week. Prior, he was Director of Marketing & Special Projects (Acquisitions) for sales agent Fortissimo Films. His producing credits include Pen-ek Ratanaruang’s SAMUI SONG (Venice 2017) and HEADSHOT (Berlin 2012), Boo Junfeng’s APPRENTICE (Cannes 2016), Josh Kim’s HOW TO WIN AT CHECKERS (EVERY TIME) (Berlin 2015), Pang Ho-Cheung’s DREAM HOME (Tribeca 2010) and ABERDEEN (Hong Kong Film Awards Best Picture nominee 2014), the upcoming THIRTEEN LIVES by Ron Howard, among others.

SUDARAT MUSIKAWONG is an Associate Professor at the Institute for Population and Social Research at Mahidol University in Thailand. She received her Ph.D. and MA in sociology from the University of California at Santa Cruz and her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She positions her investigations within cultural-political sociology and ethnographic research. Her publications include with Malinee Khumsupa, “Notes on Camp Films in Authoritarian Thailand,” Southeast Asia Research Journal (2019)Her publications include “Gendered Casualties: Thai Memoirs in Activism,” Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism (2013); “Mourning State Celebrations: Amnesic Iterations of Political Violence in Thailand,” in Identities, Global Studies in Culture and Power (2010); “Between Celebration and Mourning,” in Toward a Sociology of the Trace, (University of Minnesota Press, 2010); “Art for October Thai Cold War State Violence in Trauma Art,” positions: east asia cultures critique, Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2010.

THAIDDHI is a Filmmaker, Producer, and also Film Programmer. He studies Filmmaking at FAMU in the Czech Republic for 3 years master’s degree program in Cinema and Digital Media. His first short film “Awake” won Best Short Film at FAMU Fest 2009. He co-founded Wathann Film Festival in 2011 and worked as a Programmer for the festival. In 2013 he founded Third Floor Film Production to produce Myanmar Independent short films and documentary films. He produced a short film Cobalt Blue (2019) by Aung Phyoe which was selected for the Pardi di Domani International Competition at 72nd Locarno Film Festival. He also worked as a Cinematographer in the recent film Money Has Four Legs (2020) by Maung Sun, which was premiered at New Currents (Busan International Film Festival 2020).