The Bulletin

Stephff's world

Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre

Monday, 24 November, 7pm

A fascinating evening about Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre tracing the great bard's progress as a dramatist and the importance of the London riverside theatre in his development as a writer.

Shakespeare wrote 30 to 32 plays after 1598, the year the Globe was built. Unlike many present day dramatists, he knew the performance space intimately as he was directly involved in the theatre's management and maintenance.

The Globe was a unique venue that helped Shakespeare develop as a playwright. The evening will also focus on play production, acting and the challenges faced by producers and performers. A Q&A with the audience will follow the presentation.

Daniel Foley trained for the stage at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he won the Percival Steeds Prize and Royal Lyceum Awards. In 1992, he studied Wayang Kulit (Javanese puppetry) in East Java with the great Pak Suleman. He trained with Yoh Izumo in Japan.

Members and non-members can use this link to book their tickets.

Members 350 baht, non-members 450 baht, students 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.

‍
Beyond borders. A toolkit for reporting on forced displacement and migration in Asia

Launch event,
Monday, 24 November, 3pm

Asia hosts some of the largest refugee populations among the 123 million people forcibly displaced worldwide and is also the origin of over 40 percent of the world’s international migrants.

This reality underscores the importance of accurate, nuanced reporting on migration and displacement. Journalists play a vital role in shaping public understanding, especially in the host countries, yet the complexity of these issues often makes coverage challenging.

Beyond Borders is the first comprehensive Asia-focused toolkit designed to support Asian journalists in navigating these complexities and telling stories that reflect diverse voices and contexts. It offers hands-on guidance for ethical, accurate and human-centered reporting on migration and forced displacement, including:

- A participatory “Nothing about us without us” approach that centers refugee and migrant voices.

- Conflict-sensitive reporting and how to avoid stereotypes and bias.

- Sensitive storytelling, language use, and visual/multimedia ethics.

- Research, data and verification tools.

- Legal frameworks, protection principles and privacy of sources.

- Safety, trauma awareness and mental health support for journalists.

Launch event highlights:

- Toolkit presentation: What it is, who it is for, and how to access and use it.

- Panel talk: “From stereotypes to authentic storytelling: Amplifying refugee and migrant
voices in Asian media” with toolkit authors and experienced journalists, followed by a Q&A.

- Networking reception with refreshments.

- Printed hard copies of the toolkit and digital access via QR code will be available.

We would be delighted to welcome you to this launch and to exchange with peers and experts on strengthening evidence-based, respectful and impactful reporting on migration and forced displacement in Asia.

Please confirm your attendance by 18 November by registering via this form:
https://forms.office.com/e/60ByX7vc6n

For inquiries, please contact: dw-akademie.displacement-and-dialogue@dw.com
Free and open to all.
A conversation with Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow

Tuesday, 25 November, 7.30pm

Credit: Reuters
Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow is coming to the FCCT to share his thoughts on taking Thai foreign policy forward against the backdrop of significant global and regional developments, as well as challenges closer to home.

Only expected to be in office for a relatively short period, the veteran diplomat will explain how he and his government are putting Thailand back on the radar screen. He will address a full range of issues, from major power relations to ASEAN challenges, from Myanmar to Cambodia, and setting the course for multi-dimensional and multi-directional diplomacy that goes beyond Thailand.

Moderator: Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent and FCCT board member.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 450 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
Baturu women’s international film festival and forum

Panel discussion,
Wednesday, 26 November, 7pm

The Baturu Women’s Film Festival will be showing films from around the world in venues across Bangkok from November 25 to December 7. Come to the FCCT on November 26 to hear first-hand from the film directors who will explain their work and address the issues of women’s rights and empowerment that feature in the movies they have brought to Bangkok.

At the event, you can pick up the full schedule of events and movies for the week, which will be shown at venues including the Alliance Francaise, the Goethe Institute, the Jim Thompson Art House, House Samyan, and others. The festival kicks off the day before the FCCT event, on November 25, to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.  

Li Dan, chairperson of the Baturu Women's Film Festival, will discuss the festival and the newly established international cooperative platform in Bangkok for women's film festivals and female filmmakers. Six renowned international guests alongside leading Thai voices in film and academia will then discuss women’s creative agency, representation and equality in the film industry, reflecting on how cinema can serve as a tool for cultural transformation and empowerment. They will also discuss how to further accelerate the realization of this goal through advancing support and cooperation for the newly established international women’s film platform in Thailand.

Panelists:

Patricia Franquesa (Spain), Barcelona-based director of My Sextortion Diary (2024), whose work explores digital and gender violence.

Asha Magrati (Nepal/USA), protagonist of "Pooja, Sir!", award-winning screenwriter, producer, actress and co-founder of Aadi Films and Gograha Film Workshop.

Faridah Gbadamosi (USA), senior programmer at Tribeca Enterprises, championing inclusive storytelling and diverse authorship in film.

David Averbach (USA), creative director of The Film Collaborative (TFC) and director of distribution education initiatives called TFC’s distripedia™ program.

Orly Ravid (USA), founder of The Film Collaborative (TFC). She manages the organization, and supervises all TFC’s distribution programs and educational services.

Mala Reinhardt（Germany), German filmmaker known for Familiar Places (2025). She is also a Berlinale Talents alumni, German Films Face2Face ambassador 2025 and a member of the European Film Academy.

Li Dan, founder and chairman of the Baturu Women's Film Festival Thailand.
Free and open to all.
Thailand-Cambodia situation: Update on landmines and scam centres

Press conference by the Royal Thai Armed Forces
Thursday, 27 November, 10am

Tensions along the Thai–Cambodian border have escalate with a new landmine incident, cross-border gunfire and sharply conflicting accounts from both governments. These developments have undermined the peace deal signed in Malaysia last month and now pose serious risks to long-term stability along the frontier.

Meanwhile, the booming scam centre industry operating in border areas continues to drive criminal networks, money-laundering and forced labour. These syndicates -- protected by political connections and sustained by vast cross-border financial flows -- have reshaped local power dynamics and complicated efforts to defuse the crisis.

Join us for a press conference with representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Royal Thai Armed Forces and the Royal Thai Police, who will provide insights into these pressing security challenges and broader implications for the region.

Speakers:

Rear Admiral Surasant Kongsiri, spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense.

Major General Withai Laithomya, spokesperson for the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

Police Lieutenant General Yingyot Thepchamnong, spokesperson for the Royal Thai Police.

Moderator: Marwaan Macan-Markar, Nikkei Asia regional correspondent.
This is not an FCCT event.
Christmas dinner — save the date

Friday, 12 December, 7pm

At this time of year, there are few things better than sipping fine wine and feasting on well roasted turkey, baked ham and tender vegetables with Christmas pudding, pies and more to follow. Waste no time -- mark the date. Seats are limited!

Get your tickets here.

Co-working at the FCCT

Tuesday, 26 November, 10am

Need a change of scenery from your home office? Join us for a coworking day at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT) -- a perfect space for working professionals, digital nomads and anyone looking to break free from the home-office routine.

Enjoy a spacious, comfortable workspace with dedicated tables, a full restaurant, café and bar and exclusive lunch specials just for this event.

Whether you're tackling deadlines or networking with like-minded professionals, this is an opportunity to be productive in a collaborative, social environment. Come work, connect, and enjoy great food because working remotely doesn’t have to mean working alone.

Hosted by Nick Bernhardt, FCCT board member and managing director of Khayan Consultants and Tommy Walker, FCCT board member and digital nomad.

Free and open to all.
Board games night

Tuesday, 2 December, 7pm

Join us for a chilled night of board games with The Boring Club. Try your luck with classics like chess and backgammon or modern games including Catan and Pandemic.

The bar and restaurant will be open. Try our pizzas from the new pizza oven. The Boring Club meets at the FCCT clubhouse for games every Tuesday at 7pm.
Free and open to all.
FCCT pub trivia

Friday, 28 November, 7pm

Gather your friends and colleagues for a night of pub trivia at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand.

Come for a bite and a beverage and test your knowledge. 1,000 baht bar tab up for grabs for the winning team, to be redeemed on the night.

Advanced table bookings encouraged here.
Free and open to all.

Bar and restaurant open.
Democrats Abroad Thailand presents: Information for US Expats: Financial planning tips and an update on US tax compliance

Monday, 1 December, 6pm

Living abroad presents many practical challenges that impact every American, particularly in the realm of finances and taxation. For overseas U.S. citizens, adhering to U.S. tax obligations is both unavoidable and complex. Every American expat is obligated to file U.S. taxes while remaining cognizant of the most recent regulations, requirements and revisions to the tax code. Those difficulties are compounded by these tumultuous times characterized by rapidly shifting US global and domestic policies, which further underscores the paramount importance of providing clear and accessible information.

Furthermore, numerous American expats aspire to adopt a comprehensive perspective that focuses on detailed organization of their financial affairs, encompassing investment and retirement planning, as well as estate considerations. By aligning an update on U.S. tax compliance with comprehensive financial planning guidance, this briefing can provide practical value to all expats.

Speaker:

Matthew Stevens is managing director of Client-Centered Cross-Border Financial Planning Ltd. He is a seasoned advisor with extensive experience helping U.S. citizens overseas navigate the complexities of both tax compliance and financial planning.
The event is free and open to Democrats Abroad Thailand members, and to FCCT members.

US citizens who wish to join Democrats Abroad Thailand can do so at the event.
The Stringer: The man who took the photo

Panel discussion,
Wednesday, 3 December, 7pm

The Stringer on Netflix from 27 November
“The photograph of Kim Phuc is perhaps the most iconic photograph of a war ever made,” said Gary Knight. “The photographer is almost as well known as the photograph itself.”

The Associated Press photograph has always been credited to Nick Ut, a staff photographer, but new evidence suggests it may have been taken by Nguyen Thanh Nghe, a freelance.

Knight, co-founder of VII Photo Agency and a former FCCT member, was the moving force behind The Stringer, the documentary by Bao Nguyen first screened in January at the Sundance Film Festival. It finally comes to a global audience on Netflix on 27 November, and its contention is that the photograph was deliberately misattributed.  
AP has stuck with the original credit by Horst Faas, its Pulitzer-winning photo editor in Saigon at the time: “In the absence of new, convincing evidence to the contrary, the AP has no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.”

It is difficult to overstate the visual significance in the history of the Vietnam War of the photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc, “the napalm girl”, running naked down toward the camera on 8 June 1972, having just been severely burned in a US air strike.

'Terror of war' aka 'The napalm girl' (AP)
Carl Robinson will be joined by Gary Knight for the FCCT discussion. Other panellists to be announced.  

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 450 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
“Shoot, Ask ... and Run!” – Photographing Asia with Chris Stowers

Show and tell with the author,
Wednesday 10 December, 7pm

“Shoot, Ask ... and Run!” The advice given to aspiring British photographer Chris Stowers at the start of his travels has never seemed so valuable. Buffeted by the tempestuous forces of both personal and international affairs, he flees from the Jakarta mafia through the jungles of Borneo, is tear-gassed by riot police in Manila, and crosses an imploding Soviet Union by train, only to be abducted by a group of heavily-armed Serb militia.

In these pages, recalled from diaries kept at the time, Stowers paints a harsh, humorous and very human picture of media life in Asia -- and beyond -- during the boom years of the early 1990s. Based in Hong Kong in the dying days of both empire and analog photography, he finds himself constantly on the road, in trouble and out of film. A natural-born observer and nomad, the question arises: where is home?

Chris Stowers left England in 1987 fresh out of high school, clutching a one-way ticket to Karachi. He has lived in Asia ever since. For ten years before the 1997 handover to China he was based in Hong Kong where he was a photographer for Asiaweek magazine.

His love of photography began right at the start, hanging out with impoverished freelance photojournalists in war-torn Peshawar, Pakistan, where he was – fleetingly – Official Poet of The Frontier Post.

He joined the prestigious Panos Pictures Photo Agency in 1992. Photography assignments and wanderlust have taken Chris to well over 70 countries, so far, and his work has appeared in all manner of publications, including Time, Newsweek, The Economist, Forbes, Businessweek, National Geographic Traveller and The New York Times.

He has photographed numerous guidebooks for Insight Guides and Dorling Kindersley, is co-author of the Insight Guide's book of Travel Photography, and has hosted several TV travel documentaries.

His newly released book ‘Shoot, Ask…and Run!’ is the second in his on-going series of travel memoirs published by Earnshaw Books.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 300 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
The upcoming election in Myanmar: Democratic opportunity or farce?

Wednesday, 17 December, 7pm

On 1 February 2021, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military launched a coup that prevented the newly elected National League for Democracy government from assuming office, claiming that the NLD’s landslide win was plagued by electoral irregularities. Now the Myanmar junta is planning its own election, with the first round of polls set to take place on 28 December, followed by a second round on January 11, and a final round due at the end of the month.  

What’s the likely outcome of this electoral exercise, and will it be free or fair? How will polls even be held, given the fact that fighting continues across many parts of the country between the military and an array of ethnic armed organizations and peace defense force militias? Given the resistance’s serious opposition to the polls, will conducting elections result in a further uptick in violence and possibly even worsen the situation? Finally, will the elections result in any changes to Myanmar’s current governance, its political future, and its international standing? These and many other questions are being asked by government officials, diplomats, journalists, civil society groups and others who will be watching the elections closely.

Join us for a pre-election discussion with a panel of Myanmar experts who are watching these developments:

Confirmed panelists:

Khin Ohmar, veteran Burmese political activist.

Amael Vier, election analyst, Myanmar program, Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL).

Debbie Stothard, coordinator/founder, ALTSEAN-Burma.

James Rodehaver, chief, Myanmar team, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

Moderator: Phil Robertson, director, Asia Human Rights & Labour Advocates (AHRLA) and FCCT board member.

Members who wish to book in advance should email info@fccthai.com or call the FCCT office on 02-652-0580.

Non-members can use this link.

Members free, non-members 450 baht, students and Thai press with ID 150 baht.

Bar and restaurant open.
The Universe is Painting at BACC

2-14 December