Old Path in the Deep Dark Forest: Into the Wild(er)ness

Old Path in the Deep Dark Forest: Into the Wild(er)ness

Screening Period: Every Saturday and Sunday, from 7 - 29 November 2026 , 15:00 – 16:00 (1 screening per day)

At MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum, Chiang Mai

Accessible with no additional cost beyond the museum admission ticket

This program has no dialogue.

MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum invites you to the film screening program Old Path in the Deep Dark Forest: Into the Wild(er)ness, the second screening program presented alongside the exhibition October 6th: a reconfigured archive, marking the 50th commemoration of the 6 October 1976 massacre to re-examine the traumatic wounds of Thai political history.

This film program features two silent films that document a critical juncture when Thai society was confronted with ideological and political conflicts during the Cold War. These records bear witness to the silence of individuals and repressed narratives, particularly those who were othered, marginalized, or excised from collective memory after being branded as rebels and threats to the state.

For this final of the Old Path in the Deep Dark Forest program, the Museum hopes that the films presented across this series will reveal suppressed and distorted truths, amplify the voices of those who were silenced, and illuminate the persistent hope within their struggles. At the same time, these works compel us to critically examine the violence of state power fueled by the systematic manufacture of hatred, as well as its political aftermath that continues to leave indelible marks on contemporary society and our collective memory to this day.

MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum would like to express its gratitude to the Thai Film Archive and Thammasat University Library for supporting the films featured in this program.

Featured Films (Total Runtime: 40.13 mins)

มหาวิทยาลัยธรรมศาสตร์ถูกทำลายอาคารเรียนและสิ่งของ [Thammasat University’s buildings and property were destroyed], 1975 (Unknown Creator, 8.13 min)

On 20 August 1975, Thammasat University was raided by groups operating under the names Red Gaurs (Krathing Daeng) and Nawaphon due to opposing political ideologies. The assailants stormed the campus, vandalizing buildings and property, inflicting near-total destruction on sites including the Faculty of Law building, the Student Union headquarters, ground-floor shops, the Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, and the Faculty of Social Administration.

รุ่งอรุณวันใหม่ในป่า [Dawn of a New Day in the Jungle], 1980 (Phu Phan Arts and Culture Coordinating Unit, by "Comrade Ratsamee", 32 min)

Once-classified historical footage of political resistance documenting the daily lives and key activities of the Communist Party of Thailand (CPT) at their stronghold in the Phu Phan Mountains. This community included students and activists who fled the deadly crackdown and mass arrests during the anti-dictatorship protests on 6 October 1976. This historical record exemplifies what is colloquially referred to as "Jungle Cinema ".