Thailand Film

Film in Thailand:

Thais can be very shy and conservative when it comes to sex. Most Thai actress refuse to do nude scenes and explicit sex scenes are cut from movies. Politics and controversial social issues are also largely absent from Thai film. Thai filmmakers resort to either action movies or comedies. They would rather deal with more serious social themes or controversial topic or touch on subjects that even hint of politics.

Population:
67.96 million (2015)

Ethnic Groups:
Thai
Sino-Tibetan
Austroastiatic
Malayo-Polynesian

Religions:
Buddhism
Hinduism

Government Type:
Modern Nation State

Capital:
Bangkok

Thailand Economy:
Thailand is a newly industrialized country. Its economy is heavily export-dependent, with exports accounting for more than two-thirds of its gross domestic product.

GDP:
395.3 billion

Industries and Exports:
The manufacturing sector constitutes Thailand's main industry, producing a wide variety of goods such as textiles and garments, plastics, footwear, electronics, integrated circuits, computers and components, automobiles and parts, and cement.

Cinemas in Thailand are popular venues for entertainment. Especially in Bangkok, the movie theaters tend to be multiplex facilities offering many other forms of entertainment besides movies, such as bowling or karaoke, along with restaurants and small shops.

The films playing in Thai cinemas are usually first-run Hollywood features, which tend to dominate the box-office scene.^[1] There is a burgeoning Thai film industry that is making dozens of films each year that are increasingly popular with local audiences, and routinely outpace the Hollywood films at the box office. Films from other Asian countries, such as Korea, Japan and Hong Kong, are popular as well.

Film dubbing

The advent of sound raised another problem for cinemas in Thailand: the language of the talkies. Soon a dubbing method developed in which a dubber would provide a simultaneous translation of the dialogue by speaking Thai into a microphone at the back of the theater. 

Also, there were film companies that could not afford to make sound films, and would make films with the intention that they would be dubbed at screenings by live performers reading from a script. These dubbed films proved as popular as the talkies, especially if the dubber was well known.

Post-war years: The 16-mm era

After the end of the Second World War, filmmaking got under way again in Thailand using surplus sixteen mm black-and-white stock from wartime newsreel production.

At least two Thai films were produced in 1946. One was an action film, Chai Chatree (Brave Men), directed by journalist-turned-filmmaker Chalerm Sawetanant. The screenplay was by writer Malai Chupinij, who would go on to script other films of the era, including Chao Fah Din Salai (Till Death Do Us Part). The other film noted by the National Film Archive for 1946 was an adaptation of a Thai folktale, Chon Kawao (The Village of Chon Kawao).

The vividly colored films were popular with audiences as well, prompting dozens of new filmmakers to enter the business.

The 1970s and '80s

Thailand saw an explosion of locally produced films during the 1970s after the Thai government imposed a heavy tax on imported films in 1977, which led to a boycott of Thailand by Hollywood studios. To pick up the slack, 150 Thai films were made in 1978 alone. Many of these films were low-grade action films. 

The Thai New Wave

By 1981, Hollywood studios were once again sending films to Thailand. This was a low period for the Thai film industry, and by the mid-1990s, studio output was averaging about 10 films per year.

Thai independent fil

With the New Wave directors achieving commercial and artistic success, a new crop of filmmakers has grown up outside the traditional and often restrictive Thai studio system to create experimental short films and features

In Thailand a floating screen was created for a film festival using local lobster fisherman rafts with tires and then a separate platform for the audience was made so that they could sit back, relax and enjoy the show amidst the aesthetic scenery. The screen was placed in front of two beautiful rocks in the archipelago in the Bay of Bengal for a film festival called “Film on the Rocks Yao Noi.”