‘Twilight Over Burma’ screening cancelled in Thailand
The
Thailand International Film Destination Festival has
cancelled the screening of Twilight Over Burma, a German TV movie
about the marriage between a Shan prince and an Austrian woman.
According to a report on Wednesday
in Thai-language daily Khaosod, the romantic film was dropped from the festival
program due to “national relationships.”
The report added that three other productions
were banned from the festival by the Thailand Film and Video Censorship Board: Pattaya
(2016); Happy Hour in Paradise (2015); and Detective Chinatown
(2016).
Twilight
Over Burma is based on a true
story, originally published in a book by protagonist Inge Sargent. It focuses
on her life after she married Sao Kya Seng, the Prince of Hsipaw, and moved to
Shan State in 1953. It tells how the prince was arrested and imprisoned after General
Ne Win launched a coup d’état in 1962.
The German-produced movie was also
removed from the program at the Myanmar Human Rights Film Festival on June 14 by Burma’s Ministry of Information
Censorship Board, citing reasons of “national reconciliation.”
The film’s producer, Alfred
Deutsch, told Khaosod news agency that it was confirmed to him on June
13 that his movie would be shown in Bangkok, but later he learned it had been
banned.
“I don’t know by whom and why [the film] was
rejected,” Deutsch told Khaosod.
Twilight Over Burma was due to premiere in Thailand twice in May: once in Bangkok
and also in the northern city of Chiang Mai. However,
the film – partly filmed in Thailand and mostly played by Thai actors – was
blocked by the national review committee without explanation.
On 23-25 June, at the invitation of
Thai Prime Minister Gen. Prayuth Chan-o-cha, Burma’s State Counselor Aung San
Suu Kyi made her first official visit to the country since her party took power
in April.
In late May, Burma’s Commander-in-Chief
Senior-General Min Aung Hlaing also paid
a visit to Thailand to help promote bilateral relations, according to a report in
Bangkok Post on May 25.
Tags: Human Rights, News
