[EFF17S12] Session 12: Tongpan, presented by May Adadol Ingawanij and Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn
Description
Film: Tongpan, Euthana Mukdasanit, Surachai Janthimathorn, Thailand 1977, digital, 63 minutes, Thai with English subtitles
An exemplary work of collective filmmaking, Tongpan is a re-staging of a seminar which took place in Isan, North East Thailand, in 1975. The seminar was initiated to discuss the proposed construction of the Pa-Mong Dam along the Mekong river in 1975, two years after the Thai popular uprising in 1973. The seminar was attended by government officials, well known intellectuals such as Sulak Siwalak and Sane Jammarik, local farmers, students, and foreign experts, and it was held at Thammasat University, a space closely associated with leftist student activism. The footage of the re-staged seminar is interwoven with sequences of the daily life of Tongpan, a farmer whose land had been lost due to the construction of a previous hydroelectric dam. The film juxtaposes the event of the seminar with Tongpan being approached by students who try to convince him to tell his story and to join their struggle. Shot in 16mm with a largely non-professional cast, Tongpan fragments and disrupts our sense of realism to present the distance between the intelligentsia and the lives of the rural peasants. The film was created by a group known as the Isan Film Collective, whose student members had emerged from the mid-70s moment when leftist Thai counter cultural activists had inspired several uprisings and student activists continued to promote socialist ideals and support the pro-democracy movement.
This screening was followed by a conversation between May Adadol Ingawanij, University of Westminster, and Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn, Queen Mary London.
With thanks to Euthana Mukdasanit, Paijong Laisakul, Pathompong Manakitsomboon, and the Thai Film Archive.
Previews
1 - EFF17S12 conversation (EFF17S12 Tongpan May Ingawanij and Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn 30.0.17.WMA)
Collection Method
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Metadata
| Dataset Title: | [EFF17S12] Session 12: Tongpan, presented by May Adadol Ingawanij and Graiwoot Chulphongsathorn |
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| Creators: | Temple, Michael and Barrington, Matthew |
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| Data collection method: | The Essay Film Festival ran between 2015 and 2023, and presented a global range of contemporary and restored essayistic works. The events are now archived here for research purposes. |
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| Statement on legal, ethical, and access issues: | All film stills were provided by participating artists. |
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| Depositing User: | Emma Yapp | ||||||||||||
| Date Deposited: | 11 Aug 2026 14:40 | ||||||||||||
| Last Modified: | 11 Aug 2026 14:40 | ||||||||||||
| Publisher: | Birkbeck College, University of London |
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2916-9876Impact & Reach
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