Come and See

Come and See is a Thai documentary film directed by Nottapon Boonprakob and produced by UnderDoc Film. The film focuses on the alleged controversies regarding the teachings and practices of Wat Phra Dhammakaya and chronicles the events of the 23-day lockdown of the temple by the Thai military junta in 2017. The film was initially screened at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea in 2019 before being released in Thailand in April 2021 following approval by Thai media censors. The film's original Thai language name, Ehipassiko, comes from a phrase commonly used in a Pali language Theravada Buddhist chant, meaning literally "come and see", hence the name. Production The film was initially produced by Nottapon Boonprakob as his thesis at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. The film focused on the alleged controversies surrounding Wat Phra Dhammakaya's teachings and practices, and highlighted the conflict and lawsuits between Wat Phra Dhammakaya and Thailand's 2014 military junta, which put the temple under intense scrutiny in the Thai media for a period and resulted in a 23-day lockdown and siege of the temple in 2017 by the military junta.