A new film project by centre researcher Jacob von Heland looks at the historical ecology of flooding and flooding as disaster in central Thailand. "When the Flood came" is an introduction to the project and looks at the flooding events in the floodplain of lower Chao Phraya in 2011. A full-feature film is scheduled for the beginning of 2013.
The documentary will look at how floods in Thailand have shifted from being seasonal and natural, even a desirable part of social life, to be considered a disaster.
Together with Kissada Kamyoung, who is a visiting researcher at Stockholm Environment Instute, Jacob von Heland interviewed more than sixty people, including officials, artists, farmers, industrialists and flood experts.
"One general insight from this project has been that the flood has brought many people together in unexpected ways. But we have also seen how trust in collective action is low and that different groups are addressing the risk of future floods individually in ways that again risk pulling them apart," says von Heland.
