Contemporary Thai CinemaNew Movements and Social Change
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Published 31 January 2027
About this book
The first collection of academic essays exploring the Thai film industry throughout the 2000s and up to the present day
- Brings together a new generation of Thai and international film scholars addressing the transnational and transmedia incarnation of Thai film and screen industries
- Discusses cases of local genres, transnational filmmaking, screening culture, the emergence of queer cinema and media and industry transformative practices since the 1997 renaissance of Thai cinema
- Based upon primary information from industry professionals, government institutions and leading researchers in Thailand
- Addresses the reconstruction of the industry and film cultures throughout the late 2010s and the post-COVID era
Focusing upon Southeast Asia’s most vibrant and internationally prolific film industry, this collection of essays charts the rise of Thai cinema in its contemporary incarnation. Beginning after the 1997 economic crisis with the renaissance of the Thai film industry and its globally renowned auteurs, the collection provides new insight into the transnational nature and industrial formation of the contemporary Thai film and screen industries.
Bringing together Thai and international film scholars, the volume explores the development of local genre films, transnational co-productions, and the significance of queer cinema in relation to the wider queer screen culture, as well as the growth of film culture through micro-cinema, para-industry bodies and foreign-film service production sector.
Throughout these chapters, the collection highlights the development of Thai cinema through key moments of industrial and economic transition, outlining the intricate relationship between popular film, the avant-garde and indie cinema in Thailand today.
Table of contents
Notes on Contributors
Introduction
Mary J. Ainslie and Wikanda Promkhuntong
Section I. Making the Nation: Nationalism and Thai Genre Films
Introduction: Making the Nation: Nationalism and Thai Genre Films
Mary J. Ainslie and Wikanda Promkhuntong
1. Thai Nationalism and Cinematic Superheroes in the Time of Thaksin
Adam Knee.
2. The Myth of Justice: Nakleng Heroes, Magic and National Allegory in the Khun Pan Trilogy
Natawan Wongchalard
3. They Are All Around Us: The Folk Horror Turn in Thai Cinema
Katarzyna Ancuta
Section II. Thailand goes Global North and South: The Transnational Screen and Sensorial Landscapes
Introduction: Thailand goes Global North and South: The Transnational Screen and Sensorial Landscapes
Mary J. Ainslie and Wikanda Promkhuntong
4. Thai Film as Transnational Cinema: The post-1997 Thai and Foreign Film Co-production and Collaboration
Veluree Metaveevinij
5. Seeing the Bangkok Gas Accident Again: Transnational Screen Hauntology in The Eye
Liew Kai Khiun
6. Exploring the Next Phase of Transnational Co-Production: South-South Collaboration in Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria (2021)
Palita Chunsaengchan
Section III. The Transformation of Queer Screen Culture: Independent cinema, Katoey films and Boys Love Media
Introduction: The Transformation of Queer Screen Culture: Independent cinema, Katoey films and Boys Love Media
Mary J. Ainslie and Wikanda Promkhuntong
7. Tom Yum Spectacle: Remediation, Carnival, and the Cinema of Poj Arnon
Brett Farmer
8. Remembering Love of Siam: Cinema, Memory and Boys Love Culture in Contemporary Thailand
Natthanai Prasannam
9. Thai Queer Cinema and Queer Ecologies: Compromising Lesbian Separatism and Thai Modernity in Solids by the Seashore
Atit Pongpanit and Rachel Harrison
Section IV. Exploring the Industry Context: Networks, Festivals and the COVID Impact
Introduction: Exploring the Industry Context: Networks, Festivals and the COVID Impact
Mary J. Ainslie and Wikanda Promkhuntong
10. Positive Thai-ness and the Thai State Film Incentives: Objective Content and Cash Rebates
Mary J. Ainslie
11. Film Cultures between the Market and the State: Alternative Infrastructure and Cultural Commoning Practices in Thailand
Wikanda Promkhuntong
12. The Micro-Cinema Phenomenon in Thailand after the COVID-19 Pandemic
Sasawat Boonsri