Inter-Asian Forum on Film Censorship

Inter-Asian Forum on Film Censorship is the first webinar roundtable discussion for the series, Theory/Praxis/Politics. This forum highlights film practitioners and programmers’ thoughts and reflections on the practices of censorship across Asia. Join our panelists, Zhu Rikun, Kek Huat Lau, and Park Sungho, as they articulate their first-hand experiences in the field and unfurl the complexities of censorship both in the production and circulation of cinema.

Theory/Praxis/Politics is a webinar series working to advocate for and bring together perspectives of academics, filmmakers, programmers, civil servants, and other stakeholders with an interest in the question of censorship across Asia and its diasporas. We consider Asia as a productive site in which theory, practice, and politics overlap. The intersection allows us to question not only our understanding of censorship and the ways in which we engage with cinema in the region but also to reconsider the relationship between theory, aesthetics, and politics.

Speakers’ Bios:
Park Sungho is a programmer for Cambodia International Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival, and is working to promote Southeast Asian cinema globally. Park was born in Seoul, Korea in 1977. He majored in Film Editing at the Cinematography Department at Chung-Ang University. In 2007, he joined the Busan International Film Festival and served as a program coordinator for Asian cinema and manager for the Asian Film Academy. In 2013, he moved his base to Phnom Penh. Since 2016, he has joined Cambodia-based film production company Anti-Archive as a producer.

Zhu Rikun is an independent film director and producer, as well as a curator from China. He is the founder of Fanhall Films and chief editor of cinema website fanhall.com. Zhu founded Documentary Film Festival China in 2003, which is one of the earliest independent film festivals in China. As a director, Zhu’s has made the following film: The Questioning, The Dossier, Welcome, Dust, Anni, and No Desire to Hide(also named Siren in original title).

LAU Kek-Huat is a Malaysia-born filmmaker based in Taiwan. His debut film Boluomi was in competition Busan International Film Festival, New Currents section, and Golden horse nominated for a Best new director. The project won him the Tokyo Talent Award 2015, Best Script Award in 2013 Taiwan, and was selected for La Fabrique. Cinema du monde. His short film Nia door won Best Short Film Award, Sonje Award at the Busan International film festival, selected for the 38th Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Both his documentary Absent without leave and The Tree Remembers still face censorship challenges today in Malaysia. He is an alumnus of Golden Horse Academy and Berlinale & Tokyo Talents. Lau had also a jury and mentor for regional filmmaking events such as Doc Doc, Asiadoc, FFD, New Asian Scenery.

Palita Chunsaengchan is an assistant professor of Southeast Asian cinema in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She is working on her book manuscript entitled, Sovereign Screen: Early Thai Cinema and Politics of Media Modernity. This project focuses on early Thai cinema — particularly on its intermedial relationships to prose, poetry, and traditional theatre — from the period of the absolute monarchy to the Siamese Revolution. She also published in Asian Cinema (2021) and Thai Cinema: The Complete Guide (2018).

Elizabeth Wijaya is an Assistant Professor of East Asian Cinema in the Department of Visual Studies and Cinema Studies Institute of the University of Toronto. She is Director of the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies and an Associate Producer of Taste (Dir. Le Bao, Special Jury Award, Berlin Film Festival).

Sponsored by Asian Institute, the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies, Pan-Asian Seminar Series: The Political Life of Information and the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Minnesota.