BANGKOK, April 26, 2013 (AFP) - Thai censors will allow a documentary about a border row with Cambodia to be screened, a culture ministry official said
Thursday, in a U-turn after banning the film as a threat to national
security.
Censors watched "Boundary", which explores the lives of
people caught up in conflict in the area near the Preah Vihear temple,
twice on Thursday and decided the initial call to ban it was "a
mistake".
"There was a mistake by officials," an official at the country's Video and Film Office told AFP, requesting anonymity.
It
can be screened with some changes "which the director is willing to
make", the official said, adding the sub-committee was wrong to ban it
from Thai screens in the first place.
Filmmaker Nontawat
Numbenchapol welcomed the reversal and said his documentary -- which
made its screen debut in Europe -- will now be shown with the sound cut
from a brief section.
"I'm confident that audience will understand
my film which aims to open more discussion," he said of the
documentary, which touches on flashpoint political protests in Bangkok
as well as the border spat -- currently being adjudicated by the UN's
highest court.
Some of the film's most contentious scenes come
from Thailand's febrile recent history including a bloody crackdown on
"Red Shirt" protesters in the heart of Bangkok in 2010.
On
Wednesday the official at the Film and Video Office, which falls under
the culture ministry, said the documentary was banned because its
content could cause "a rift in international relations".
The film could also "cause disunity among Thais and jeopardise national security", he added.
Thailand
does not dispute Cambodia's ownership of the 900-year-old Preah Vihear
temple, a UNESCO World Heritage site that has seen deadly clashes along
their joint border.
But both sides claim an adjacent 4.6-square-kilometre (1.8-square-mile) patch of land.
The
Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) completed hearings
last week after Cambodia asked for an interpretation of the 1962 ruling
on the Preah Vihear temple area.
A verdict from the ICJ, which judges disputes between states, is not expected for several months.
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