While a movie made with prejudice can be a cause of international distress and even murder at the moment _ as is happening in Libya and Egypt _ the Thai Film Archive offers to bring its visitors back to where movies began: a realm of surprise and fantastical reverie. The Thai Film Archive in Salaya has recently opened a replica of Black Maria _ the name of Thomas Edison's first movie studio built in 1893. The Thai Black Maria allows visitors to perform in their own short films, with a choice of backgrounds, though the host, in a running joke, encourages everyone to include bananas in the performance.
Staff will record the film and a DVD will be sent to your home, at a cost of 100 baht.
In this photo, actors Witwisit Hiranwongkul and Sirapan Wattanajinda perform their little vaudeville inside the Black Maria _ with bananas of course.
Photo courtesy of Thai Film Archive (Public Organisation)
