CINEMA: The Tough Get Going In Thailand

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Richard S. Ehrlich

BANGKOK, Mar 12 1996 (IPS) - The film industry in Thailand might be crippled by a lack of money, high taxes, censorship and other woes, it is not completely paralysed.

Take S.P. Somtow for example. A Los Angeles-based Thai novelist and film maker, he is planning to make a movie which is supposed to become a “sort of a cross between ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ and ‘The Crying Game’.”

By Hollywood standards, his budget of around one million U.S. dollars is extremely low, but then again, Somtow can take advantage of Thailand’s relatively low wages, and sets and other facilities which are not too expensive.

“The movie (to be called ‘Farang Daung’ meaning pickled guava) will basically be about white guys trying to get into bed with Thai girls,” Somtow, 42, recently said to a local newspaper. He hopes the cast will include Margaux Hemingway (‘Lipstick’), Christopher Atkins (‘Blue Lagoon’) and Timothy Bottoms (‘The Last Picture Show’).

Other Thai directors are also trying to make movies here. One of the most prolific and successful is Bundith Rittakol, whose popular Boonchu series was a big hit. Bundith formed his own company, Star Pictures International, with Five Star Productions as its biggest shareholder.

“A lot has changed in the Thai film business,” Bundith recently said. “Today, the audiences in Thailand no longer go to any Thai films in their free time.

“There are not too many varieties of (Thai) films on offer, and there are very few directors available now to work on new film projects. On top of everything else, production costs have gone up considerably.

“When production bosses see what directors, both old and new ones, now propose as their film budget, they get scared,” he added, referring to the rapid jump in prices to their current levels ranging from 1.4 million to 1.6 million U.S. dollars.

“Every film company is at least twice as careful now about allocating big budgets for local film productions, because it’s not that easy to recoup expenses and make a profit,” Bundith said.

Recent big box office successes include the R.S. Promotions film, ‘Lok Tang Bai Hai Nai Khon Deeo’, which reportedly earned about two million dollars in its first run engagements.

In an effort to finance less commercial films, Bundith churns out his widely acclaimed Boonchu sequels. (MORE)

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