Despite protests and a last-ditch effort by the Free Thai Cinema Movement, it appears as though a harsh new film law is all but certain to be passed in Thailand.

In a story that an RT blogger (Wise Kwai) picked up from Nation Multimedia -- and was in turn reported on by Movie City Indie -- Thailand's National Legislative Assembly has begun deliberating a draft of the country's new Film and Video Act. The new law, which would replace the Film Act of 1930, is being criticized for its unusually restrictive provisions.

Turning the clock back from 1930, the new Film and Video Act will apparently institute a ratings system for filmgoers 25 and under. From Wise Kwai:

The ratings system has a PG for general audiences, PG-15, restricting people 14 and under, and a newly proposed PG-25 rating, under which people 24 years and younger would be prohibited. An earlier draft had 17 as the oldest age to restrict moviegoers. If passed, it would be the highest age-restrictive rating in the world. Notoriously controlling Singapore, for example, has a 21-and-over category for films as its most restrictive rating. The United States' most restrictive rating is the rarely used NC-17, which bans people 17 years and under from seeing certain films.

The Culture Ministry is also calling for an X rating, under which films would be banned outright, and their distribution outside the Kingdom would be prohibited. Films falling in this category would be ones that, in the view of the proposed Film and Video Board, "impact sovereignty, religion, and the monarchy."

Source: Nation Multimedia
Source: Wise Kwai
Source: Movie City Indie