Moments of record

The film fades and has scratches, but the persistence of history is strong. On Tuesday, the Ministry of Culture and Thai Film Archive (Public Organisation) registered 25 film items into the National Heritage list for audiovisual conservation and future reference. In November and December, the Archive will host screenings of some of the newly inducted titles.

This is the sixth year that film items are nominated for inclusion in the National Heritage registry. As with every year since the project started, the entries range from historical footage to classic titles and acclaimed contemporary movies. The bulk of them are black-and-white news reels that evoke old Siam, the people and the pageantry, while a portion of them are fictional stories that reflect the changing society, from a comedy about gay volleyball players to a teen drama adapted from a woman's tweets.

The oldest film this year is 30-minute footage from 1936 showing the construction of Siam's first submarine by a Japanese shipbuilding company and activities of Thai navy officers on-board the vessel. The film, amazingly, shows nearly a step-by-step assembly of each part of the submarine, which was called Virun, from the moulding of the keel to the installation and testing of the torpedoes. At one point the on-screen text reads: "The submarine manned by officers who do not fear death will deliver destruction to our enemy … Submarines inspire fear among our enemies and thus it's necessary for us to acquire them!" This bold announcement is still applicable today.

Royalty are prominently featured in old footage. One of the 25 items listed is 1937 footage showing Prince Bhirabhong Bhanudej, the racing prince who just returned from a tournament in Europe, taking his steed for a spin on Ratchadamnoen Road. The prince, supported by Field Marshal Pibulsonggram's government, was preparing the first-ever racing event in Siam, the Bangkok Grand Prix, and the two-minute clip shows him exhibiting the power of his car along the stretch of the historic avenue. But World War II broke out first, and the race never happened.

Another royal highlight is a 69-minute film documenting HM the King and HM the Queen on their first royal visit to the South of Thailand. The year was 1959, and the film recorded Their Majesties' journey by train from Bangkok to Nakhon Pathom, on to Chumporn, Ranong, Krabi and further down by car to the predominantly Muslim Yala and Narathiwat, where the villagers put on cultural performances for the visiting monarchs. Because television wasn't available to most people, this film was shown in cinemas to promote royal activities.

New Ocean Fence, The Submarine Of Siam (1936).

Then we have the politics. First, a short one-and-a-half-minute clip from 1962 records the protest of students and civilians in Narathiwat against the World Court's ruling on Phrae Vihear, which Thailand lost to Cambodia. Then we have short news footage from 1967 recording the historic signing of foreign ministers from the five nations that established Asean; it was during the premiership of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn, when Thailand was under military rule. Two years later, at the height of the Cold War, US President Richard Nixon visited Thailand. A 30-minute film shot by the American News Service shows Nixon arriving on July 28, 1969, and his meeting with HM the King; the next day the president joins the cabinet meeting with Field Marshal Thanom. The topic, naturally, was how the two great allies could fight the spread of communism in the region.

That piece of history is somehow related to another news clip: the 1978 amnesty given by PM Kriangsak Chomanan to political prisoners arrested after the Oct 6, 1976, Thammasat massacre -- this year marks the 40th anniversary of the incident, which saw scores of students killed, butchered and imprisoned. The 53-minute film was handed out on a CD at the funeral of PM Kriangsak, and today serves as a priceless historical record of a momentous decade.

Now for the feature-film entries: the National Heritage additions have a number of commercially released titles, mostly from the mid-1970s up to the present (including one documentary from last year, Uruphong Raksasat's The Songs Of Rice, and a classic from 1961, Ratana Pestonji's Phrae Dam).

Apasara Hongsakul being crowned the winner at Miss Universe 1965.

On top of them is MR Chatrichalerm Yukol's Theptida Rongram (Motel Angel, 1974), a gritty drama set after the Oct 14, 1973, social upheaval that tells the story of a village girl sold into prostitution in Bangkok. A proto-feminist film that deals with issues such as human rights, freedom and social structure, it's one of the best Thai films of the 1970s. The tense political atmosphere of the 1970s also made its way into Phai Daeng (Red Bamboo, 1979), a political parable that pits capitalism against communism, greed against Buddhism -- in short, something no Thai film wants to touch these days. The director is Permpol Choei-arun, who adapted the story from a Cold War-era novel by MR Kukrit Pramoj.

Other contemporary feature films inducted this year range from the light-hearted to the serious. The 2000 gay comedy Satree Lex (Iron Ladies) tells the real-life story of a volleyball team made up of homosexuals and transvestites; the 2003 art-house sensation Sud Saneha (Blissfully Yours) catapulted director Apichatpong Weerasethakul to global recognition; the 2004 whimsical fable Mah Nakorn (Citizen Dog) is a splash of metaphors and tooth-aching colours; the 2013 Mary Is Happy, Mary Is Happy is a teen-angst film adapted from a string of tweets from a young woman; the 2014 village drama Wang Pikul (Village Of Hope) harks back to the social-realist days of the 1970s.

There are also two documentaries honoured this year. Final Score is a 2007 film that documents the gruelling process of university entrance exams, and The Songs Of Rice, which came out last year, chronicles the rice-growing tradition in farms and villages across Thailand.