Representatives of the Thai feature film ‘Ghost Game’ held a press conference today (Wednesday, April 26th) to apologize for any misunderstanding regarding depiction of the movie’s events at a location said to resemble the Khmer Rouge Toul Sieng prison in Cambodia.
Executive Producer Napat Pavaputanont na mahasarakam, Producer Pantham Thongsang and Director Sarawut Wichiensarn appeared before the press after an article by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) sparked commentary in Thai newspapers.
After a sneak preview of the movie last Thursday, an unidentified researcher from a Cambodian University who attended the preview emailed the AFP reporter saying the movie was “a bit too scary for me”…“But you should watch it and see.” The reporter viewed a trailer of the film and wrote the article which caused the commotion in the Thai press.
Exacerbating the situation was a follow up article by Deutsche Presse-Agentur which hit the wires this afternoon but after the Thai Press conference was held apologizing for misunderstandings.
The DPA article quoted Cambodian Culture Ministry official Kong Kendara as saying “They want people to be scared but the deaths (of hundreds of thousands of people) is not a game.”
The headline on the article was “Cambodian outrage mounts over Thai film’s disrespect of genocide.” (article here )
A ‘Ghost Game’ representative who asked not to be named said that in fact while the Toui Sieng center was a model for the “museum” used in the movie and interior pictures on the wall of the set resembled the type of photos of genocide victims on the interior walls of the real prision – there was, in fact, no connection between the two.
The Thai production company TIFA did approach the Cambodian Culture Ministry in 2005 asking permission to film in Cambodia and were granted permission if they “would not make reference to the location or actual (historical) events”.
But budgetary concerns kept the production from filming on location.
In the press conference Executive Producer Napat apologized for the lack of sensitivity of the production crew saying “We should have made a clearer distinction between fiction and reality.”
She ended her comments with a traditional Thai symbol of respect – a Wai, but in a very high position symbolizing a very sincere apology.
'Ghost Game' which preems in Thai theaters tomorrow, is the story of a group of 11 young Thais who take part in a Thai reality TV show. They must stay in the haunted museum and brave angry ghosts to win prize money.
Needles to say, the meanest ghost of all, who the Cambodians claim was the Khmer Rouge commander of the prison, ends up killing the majority of the TV crew and game participants.
During the Khmer Rouge regime which lasted from 1975 to 1979 approximately two million Cambodians died.
As DPA reported, the Deputy Governor of the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Pailin, My Meak said, “The killing has stopped. We do not forget our past, but it should never be repeated in any form…”
When the film representative was reminded that this controversy broke very conveniently the day before the movie was to open, he gave a very embarrassed laugh and said: “Yes, but what is most important here is that the situation between our two countries stabilize. We can not have this film jeopardize that.”
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