The Thai Film Archive returns to service today and will present a movie talk on 45 Years After MR Kukrit Pramoj's Historic Visit To China at its Sri Salaya Theatre tomorrow at 2pm.
This will be the first special activity after a month-long closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The event will start with a special screening of a film that records the first official visit by the Thai prime minister and diplomatic corp to China that took place between June 30 and July 6 in 1975.
The film, preserved by Thai Film Archive and recently registered as National Film Heritage, is a news documentary shot on 16mm colour film by the cameraman of TV Channel 9 station. It records one of the most important events that signalled Thailand's historic geopolitical shift and restructuring of power balance during the Cold War.
The visit of MR Kukrit is regarded as the inauguration of Thailand's official diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, a country long shrouded in secrecy in the Thai imagination.
The film features a number of well-known figures whose roles in modern politics of both Thailand and China are monumental. The Thai delegation included Tej Bunnag (then Thai ambassador to Beijing), Chatchai Chunhavan (then foreign minister) and Anan Panyarachun (then Thai ambassador to Washington).
On the Chinese side, the film shows Deng Xiaoping, who was tasked by Mao Zedong to receive the Thai delegation, as well as Premier Zhou Enlai and General Zhu De.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with Tej and Suthichai Yoon, a respected journalist who was also a member of the delegation who travelled with MR Kukrit.
There is no admission fee. The Thai Film Archive is located on Phutthamonthon Sai 5 Road.
For reservations, visit fapot.or.th/main/cinema/view/918 or call 02-482-2013/4.
