BANGKOK: Thailand’s military government wants to control how movies portray the ordeal of the young football players and their heroic rescue from a flooded cave that drew worldwide interest and the attention of foreign film-makers.

Culture Minister Vira Rojpochanarat said he will propose at next week’s cabinet meeting that a special committee be established to oversee the production of films, documentaries and videos related to the experiences of the 12 boys and their coach who were trapped in a cave for almost three weeks before being rescued.

With the boys returned home, attention has turned to how the media is handling the post-rescue story. There has been criticism of several news outlets, mostly foreign, which are considered to have ignored official advice to leave the boys alone for at least a month to try to avoid psychological stress that recounting their ordeal might trigger.

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said on Friday the foreign media “may not know the consequences of our child protections laws. Even if unintentional, but if guilty, we can conduct legal proceedings against foreigners”.

The rescue, carried out successfully against high odds, was a rare bit of feel-good news from Thailand, which has been mired in political conflict and heavy-handed military rule for more than a decade. Even as the world watched the cave saga, a boat sinking off a southern resort island claimed almost 50 Chinese tourists, an event that normally would have registered as a high-profile debacle.

The government’s Thailand Film Office already regulates the production of films shot in Thailand by foreign companies, including vetting scripts and issuing filming permits, but Vira said the committee would oversee content, licensing and the protection of privacy of the rescued team and their families.

Vira said five foreign film production companies have shown interest in making a movie or documentary about the cave rescue and some had already been on location to collect information.

Thai film producers have also shown interest but have not yet contacted the government, Vira said.

“This [story] has all the right elements,” Vira said. “If you talk about drama associated with film-making, it has everything. It has loss as well as jubilation. The content and story it has for film-making is very complete. Even if you don’t create additional drama, these events had every flavour.”

Published in Dawn, July 21st, 2018