Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul talks in this interview about the recent decision by the Thai Censorship Board to cut four scenes from his new movie "Syndromes and a Century." Apichatpong said that rather than cut the four scenes, including one in which a monk is simply shown playing a guitar, he decided to pull its domestic release entirely. Apichatpong said he was saddened he was forced to pull the movie, but is taking the opportunity to submit a petition to the government to question what's wrong with the system. "For some filmmakers, it's become such a standard that when one makes a film, they're automatically aware of the censor system so they won't do this and that," he said. "I think it affects the way we tell stories. So many Thai films resort to being about comedy or ghost stories or something very light. But at the same time, this is about a studio system because my film is not part of this system that operates on fear."
IFC