Documentary Educational Resources - Geography / Asia / Thailand / All Films

Candles for New Years

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Candles for New Years
Buy Now: $295.00

For 200 years, groups of Lahu have been migrating from southwestern China into the highlands of Southeast Asia's "Golden Triangle" region. Though they share much with other migrants in the ethnic patchwork of the region, the Lahu maintain a vigorous sense of themselves as a distinct people. New Years is their prime time for celebrating what it means to be Lahu. Candles For New Years is the first visual portrait of Lahu life prepared for English-speaking viewers. Anthropologist Jacquetta Hill has followed for more than a decade the fate of a group of Lahu who cleared the forest and built a community north of Chiang Mai, Thailand. In this film, she describes the Lahu New Year as celebrated by the community: the elaborate preparations to appease the spirits they rely upon to bring them good fortune, the dancing & feasting and the mingling with friends and relatives from sister villages.

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Common Roads

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 08:16:00 GMT

Common Roads
Buy Now: $320.00

While the label of 'pilgrim' is still mostly associated with devout persons leaving home with purely religious motives, young people taking to the road as 'backpackers' are generally perceived as adventure seeking globetrotters. Questioning these stereotypes, anthropologist and filmmaker Tommi Mendel followed two young women, one along the Way of St. James — a centuries old pilgrimage route — through France and Spain, and another backpacking through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. Documenting their experiences and encounters over a period of three years, this film reveals intriguing parallels between what at first glance appear as two different ways of traveling.

Common Roads is Tommi Mendel's PhD-thesis accepted by the University of Zurich and was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Ghosts and Numbers

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 13:26:00 GMT

Ghosts and Numbers
Buy Now: $320.00

Set in the aftermath of the devastating financial crash of the Thai baht and the Asian monetary crisis, Ghosts and Numbers is a fantastic meditation on Thai encounters with the spirit world and the world of numbers, as these intersect in unexpected ways. The film journeys with displaced farmers who can no longer work the land for a living and can only eek one out by selling lottery tickets on Bangkok streets. They are double-threatened by an impending conversion of the Thai national lottery to completely virtual form, displacing the paper ticket and cutting them out of the economy of numbers altogether.

Intercut with the story of migrant lottery sellers are the stories of an avid lottery seller who communicates with spirits and the story of the devastating financial crash visually represented through a surreal journey through Bangkok streets. The film includes an amazing possession séance that is boosted by mobile technology and also relates stories of ghosts and haunting that span past and present and which are set among frightful trees in the country and ruined buildings in Bangkok, left half-built after the financial crash. The dream-like passages are presented by an ambiguous narrator who takes on increasingly spectral form in the stories she tells.

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Life and Death at Preah Vihear

Wed, 29 Aug 2018 06:41:00 GMT

Life and Death at Preah Vihear
Buy Now: $320.00

Life and Death at Preah Vihear explores why two Buddhist countries are fighting in the 21st Century over a Hindu temple from the 11th Century because of a bad French map from the early 20th Century.

Filmed over a five year period in both Thailand and Cambodia, the film uses the conflict over the ancient temple of Preah Vihear (Khmer) / Khao Phra Viharn (Thai) to illuminate current political and cultural tensions between the two countries. In addition, it shows the ways in which the colonial encounter with the West impacted the concept of borders and boundaries of the Southeast Asian state. Finally, it shows the stark political divisions that have split Thailand into "Red Shirts" and "Yellow Shirts", and exposes how the dispute has influenced -- and been influenced by -- Thai internal politics.

The documentary shows the magnificence and mystical symbolism of the temple itself. Using rare archival footage, it places the present dispute in its historical context in both Cambodia and Thailand. It contains interviews with policy makers, scholars and ordinary people on both sides of the border; some of whom see the conflict as senseless, while others are willing to fight to the death. In Cambodia, it shows 'spirit warriors' of an ancient general being mobilized through trance to defend the country. In Thailand, both Red Shirts and Yellow Shirts are filmed, as are the street demonstrations and fierce fighting that has periodically erupted.

The film includes the most recent Thai military coup, and concludes by examining the impact of this seizure of power on issues along the border.

“David Feingold's Life and Death at Preah Vihear is a valuable work of art, culture, and history. The evenhanded and yet straightforward approach to a contentious border dispute is quite rare. It delves sympathetically but carefully into the rich cultural and political histories of both Cambodia and Thailand, and their differential experiences with French colonialist frontier-making. This is another very professional Feingold film, and a fine teaching resource.”
— Ben Kiernan, Chair, Council on Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University, author of How Pol Pot Came to Power, and The Pol Pot Regime.

“This compelling documentary conveys how maps, senses of place and time, sovereignty, and religion are drawn into on-going struggles about the contested location of Preah Vihear Temple - Cambodia or Thailand. Using historical and contemporary sources, experts and ordinary citizens, the film offers multiple perspectives and insights into how borders and sentiments about them are implicated in domestic and international politics in surprising, and devastating ways, that continue into the present. Highly relevant to area studies, the films would add to courses on memory, politics, place, and religion. The film raises important questions for anthropology and cultural studies.”
— Bambi B. Schieffelin, Collegiate Professor, Professor, Anthropology, New York University

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Mercy

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 14:49:00 GMT

Mercy
Buy Now: $320.00

Filmed over two years at a community hospice in Klong Toey, Thailand, the story unfolds as a thirteen-year-old girl, Luk Nam, recalls the loss of her family to AIDS. Mercy is an unsettling document of another side to the growing AIDS crisis – the future of the children whose parents are HIV-positive or have died from AIDS-related illnesses.

Surrounded by orphaned children who have inherited the disease, the filmmakers witness both Luk Nam’s sister and her best friend gradually fade away. Despite the horror of their circumstances, young Luk Nam and the hospice patients and workers show incredible compassion, strength, and hope. Luk Nam’s brave composure is as admirable as it is distressing, as when she assures the viewer: “Right now, I’m alive.”

“Mercy is a powerful and uplifting documentary revealing the everyday life challenges faced by an increasing number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Thailand today. Coping with family loss and the accompanying stigma often places children affected by HIV/AIDS in extremely vulnerable situations. This unprecedented crisis will require scaled-up national, regional and community responses in the decades to come.”
— Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director

“Mercy is a realistic and powerful portrayal of the world wide effects of HIV/AIDS on children. It gives us a chance to observe this ongoing crisis first hand. I highly recommend this film for college populations and everyone who wishes to make a difference in the fight against AIDS.”
— Scott Butler, MS, CPPE, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Mercy is a very moving, beautiful, poignant portrayal of a few years in the life of a very stoic, heroic child under horrendous circumstances. As a physician caring for children with HIV and AIDS for the past 20 years, I felt it showed so graphically the pain and suffering of those affected by but not infected with HIV, those who are living in the shadow of AIDS. Your film was an eye-opening experience for so many in our institution, who tend to forget what family members experience, while the focus is so much on the sick child.”
— Ann Petru, M.D., Associate Physician, Dept of Infectious Diseases; Director, Pediatric AIDS/HIV Program, Children's Hospital & Research Center at Oakland

“As one who has been involved with research in and about Thailand for over 40 years and as one who regularly teaches courses on culture and society of Southeast Asia, I found the film Mercy to be very powerful and compelling. It is clear from the film itself that the filmmaker was not only an observer, but was very much involved in the metta which the film depicts so well.”
— Professor Charles Keyes, Anthropology & International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle

“This film will be as useful for classroom teaching as it will for special events related to AIDS and hospice care. It's a rare film that can do so much in such a meaningful way.”
— Sara Van Fleet, Assistant Director of the SE Asia Center, University of Washington

“Together with a group of very dedicated and exceptionally unselfish people at the Mercy Centre in Bangkok, Hallacy shows us that the human spirit is marvelous and that when we support each other it is possible to generate hope even in the darkest of times.”
— Ole Schack Hansen, Director, Asia Pacific Development Communication Centre (ADCC), Dhurakijpundit University, Bangkok, Thailand

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

New Zealand International Human Rights Film Festival, 2005

East Asia Institute of Visual Anthropology Film Festival, Yunnan University, 2004

Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival, Estonia, 2004

Fukuoka Asian Film Festival, Japan, 2004

Pride International Film Festival, Manila, 2004

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A Right to Belong

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 08:59:00 GMT

A Right to Belong
Buy Now: $275.00

While once a dormant issue in Thailand, the inability to gain citizenship has developed into a problem that affects over 400,000 people in its low-income mountain regions. Recognizing citizenship among a nation is a basic human right, however the people of the mountain region - referred to as "Hill Tribes" - are facing a crisis that has led to the growth of trafficking of woman and children.

In A Right to Belong, various Hill Tribe individuals discuss their personal experiences in attempts to gain citizenship, as well as explain how their communities as a whole have suffered. Some effects caused by the lack of citizenship have been the inability to receive health care, register marriages, and participate in politics. Organizations such as UNESCO have begun to aid in the development of the Highland Citizenship Registration Project to assist in granting citizenship, and jointly stop trafficking. Additionally, this short film explores the progression and implementation of this program, and the hope that many have for the future.

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Trading Women

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 08:57:00 GMT

Trading Women
Buy Now: $320.00

Trading Women enters the worlds of brothel owners, trafficked girls, voluntary sex workers, corrupt police and anxious politicians. Filmed in Burma, China, Laos, and Thailand, this is the first film to follow the trade in women in all its complexity and to consider the impact of this 'far away' problem on the global community.

Narrated by Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie, the documentary investigates the trade in minority girls and women from the hill tribes of Burma, Laos, and China, into the Thai sex industry. Filmed on location in China, Thailand, and Burma, Trading Women follows the trade of women in all its complexity, entering the worlds of brothel owners, trafficked girls, voluntary sex-workers, corrupt police and anxious politicians. The film also explores the international community's response to the issue.

The culmination of five years of field research, Trading Women is the first film to demonstrate to viewers the relationship of the trade in drugs to the trade of women. The film dispels common beliefs about the sex trade, such as: "The problem is the parents - it's part of their culture to sell their daughters;" "The sex trade exists because of Western sex tours;" and "They sell their girls for TV's."

"We take the audience behind the tourist tales and stereotyped news coverage to reveal the reality behind the myths," said director David A. Feingold. "We show how much of what the audience thinks they know about the issue is much more complex than they imagined."

Thirty years ago, there was a thriving sex industry in Thailand, but there were no minority girls in it - what happened? The film cites the destruction of the traditional upland economy by a combination of well-meaning development and opium suppression programs in Thailand, and civil unrest, economic dislocation, and political repression in Burma as the answer to this question. These environmental and political factors have resulted in threats to both the physical and cultural survival of the highland minorities. Today, while hill tribe girls are perhaps thirty percent of the total number of sex workers in Thailand, they are disproportionately represented relative to their total numbers in the population. Moreover, they are employed in the lowest, most exploitative part of the industry.

Trading Women examines the choices that hill tribe women make, and how these choices are constrained by the economic and political conditions in which they find themselves. The documentary explores how the politics of Burma determines the supply of women to the sex industry in Thailand and how the lack of citizenship for hill tribe women puts them at a greater risk for trafficking.

Trading Women also addresses the international response to the issue. "We find that it is an issue that, in the words of one United Nations official generates 'far more heat, than light'," said Feingold. The United States has passed a law that would block World Bank loans or other non-humanitarian aid to any country that does not meet America's minimum standards for combating trafficking. "Some believe this might be counter-productive - bringing little help to the victims and pushing the problem further underground," said Feingold.

Trading Women conveys that this is not a simple issue with simple answers. It is an issue that affects the futures not only of young tribal women, but also of their communities.

SELECTED SCREENINGS & AWARDS

16th IUAES World Congress, China, 2009

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Visible Silence

Fri, 24 Aug 2018 13:38:00 GMT

Visible Silence
Buy Now: $320.00

Visible Silence is a rare glimpse into the unspoken lives of Thai toms, dees, and lesbians striving for recognition, authenticity, and acceptance in a traditional Buddhist society. It is an intimate story of self and family, love and sexuality, and self-determination where conformity is prized. The film highlights the experience of masculine women (toms) who visibly transgress gender norms, yet are bound to remain silent about who they really are. Visible Silence gives voice to their unspoken truths.

"Visible Silence helped instigate dialogues concerning lesbianism in Thailand. Some students felt safe enough to open up and share their experiences. They were able to relate themselves with some protagonists speaking in the film... they appreciated the true voices of the women being able to speak for themselves by themselves."

-- Kosum Omphornuwat, Ph.D., Lecturer in the Master's Programme in Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies, Thammasat University

Selected Screenings

Krakow Film Festival, 2015 (world premiere)
Frameline 39: San Francisco International LGBTQ Film Festival, 2015 (US premiere)
Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taipei, Taiwan, 2015 (Asian premiere)
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, 2015 (Thai premiere)
5th Annual National Conference Sexuality Studies, Bangkok, Thailand, 2015

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