Narrative

Set fifteen years after the 2010 military massacre in Bangkok, it’s the filmmaker’s process of preparing a fictional trial for her next feature. It reflects on truth, justice, and the lingering wounds of history.

On May 19, 2010, in Bangkok, the Thai army brutally suppressed ‘Red Shirts’ protesters, leaving at least 99 dead and hundreds injured. Fifteen years later, with Narrative, Anocha Suwichakornpong examines the repercussions of this violence, continuing her exploration of political trauma and the blind spots of Thai history. Conceived as a prologue to her upcoming feature film, Fiction, which will depict a fictional trial of those responsible for the massacre, the film documents Suwichakornpong’s research through workshops that have brought together witnesses to the events. In a studio with a white background – a deliberately neutral and almost impersonal setting – participants exchange ideas, in pairs or in groups, following the instructions given by a facilitator. By mobilising memories and emotions, fragments of their experiences emerge, intermingled with more structured testimonies, which gradually fill in the gaps and give shape to the amnesia surrounding this episode. While the Thai prosecutor still refuses to authorise a civil trial to establish the historical truth, Narrative creates a space for resistance and recognition, offering a meditation on the quest for justice. By revealing its own mechanisms, the film becomes a laboratory for the construction of a story, through the transition from intimate experience to shared memory.

Nepheli Gambade