Thailand can finally see acclaimed doc on controversial Buddhist sect

A documentary about a controversial Buddhist sect has been approved by censors to show in theaters next month.

Chronicling Wat Dhammakaya and its fugitive abbot accused of massive embezzlement, Come and See got the green light from the Film and Video Committee to show in its original form without changes two years after it premiered at a Korean film festival.

The film is the second feature-length documentary by filmmaker Nottapon “Kai” Boonprakob, whose first, 2,215 followed rock star “Toon Bodyslam” on his epic 2,215-kilometer charity run.

In Come and See, Nottapon investigates Dhammakaya, a new age denomination broadly composed of middle-class Thai adherents that critics call a cult that over the decades has drawn controversies including allegations of labor abuses and money laundering that culminated in a drawn-out siege in…