Thailand Film Festivals

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A flurry of festivals

PARINYAPORN PAJEE

Thailand plays host to no fewer than five film fests over the next two weeks

There's a veritable feast of films coming to Thailand in the second half of this month and movie buffs in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Hua Hin will need to do some careful planning if they want to catch their favourite films at one or more of these five festivals.

The overlap, some organisers point out, is a one-off and mostly the result of last year's flooding, which resulted in the World Film Festival of Bangkok and the Science Film Festival being postponed from November.

SCIENCE FILM FESTIVAL, JANUARY 18-31

Organised by the Goethe-Institut Thailand, the festival features short documentaries that aim to make science and technology fun.

The films have been grouped, so there's "The Mangrove Film Package" and "The Pine Film Package", for example.

Screenings are at various venues, among them the National Science Museum Thailand at Klong 5, Pathum Thani; NSM Science Square at Chamchuri Square; the Science Centre for Education at the Bangkok Planetarium on Sukhumvit Road; the National Science and Techno Science Park at Klong Luang, Pathum Thani; TK Park at CentralWorld; the Thai Film Archive in Salaya, Nakhon Pathom; and the Esplanade Cineplex Ngam Wong Wan-Khae Rai.

Visit www.Goethe.de/ins/th/|prj/wif/fil/tha/enindex.htm.

9TH WORLD FILM FESTIVAL OF BANGKOK, JANUARY 20-27

Despite the rescheduling, the festival has worked hard to keep its original movie line-up and has succeeded, losing just two French movies, "Hands Up" and "Love Like Poison", to other commitments.

The event opens as planned with "Padang Besar" ("I Carried You Home") by Tongpong Chantarangkul, winner of Produire Au Sud funding back in 2008. Kongdej Jaturanrasami's "Tae Phiang Phoo Diaw" ("P-047") and artist Rirkrit Tiravanija's debut feature "Lung Naew Visits His Neighbours", both selected for last year's Venice International Film Festival, make their local premieres.

Hungarian director Bela Tarr will be in Bangkok to receive the Lotus Award and attend the screening of his film "Turin Horse".

The main venue is the Esplanade Ratchadaphisek and the closing ceremony will be held at Village Square at the Nine Neighbourhood Centre on Rama IX Road with the outdoor screening of "Earthly Paradise" from Chile and a collection of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's films. Admission for the closing event is free.

Visit www.WorldFilmBKK.com

6TH BANGKOK EXPERIMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL, JANUARY 24-FEBRUARY 5

Held every four or five years, BEFF will showcase experimental works from Europe to and Asia. It's being held at various venues around Bangkok.

The theme is "Raiding the Archive" and the opening on January 24 and 25 will be at the Thai Film Archive with a symposium on the purpose of film archives and a workshop on the curation and exchange of films in the Asia-Pacific.

On January 28 and 29 and February 4 and 5, there will be screenings at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. The Goethe-Institute will have European experimental works on February 1 and 2.

The highlight is the documentary "World Without End" (1953), which was made for Unesco by Paul Rotha, one of cinema's first theorists. The film was partly shot in Thailand by British experimental filmmaker Basil Wright.

There'll also be conversations with historians, filmmakers and curators.

Visit BeffBeff.com.

HUA HIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, JANUARY 26-29

Thailand's newest film festival is put on by the same folks who organised the last two editions of the Bangkok International Film Festival that's been on hiatus since 2009 -the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Spearheaded by Suwat Liptapanlop, the festival aims to put the beach city on the celluloid map with a red carpet, seminars and screenings on the beach.

Conceived late last year, the movie line-up and the guest list are yet to be finalised but VIPs who have confirmed include South Korean TV stars So Ji-Sub and Han Hyo Ju, the protagonists of the romance "Always", which is showing at the festival. French director Luc Besson and Michelle Yeoh will presenting "The Lady", a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi.

Both films were partially shot in Thailand.

Thai selections include "Laddaland" and "Kon Khon", which received funding from the Creative Thailand project.

Hua Hin was the location for first Thai-Hollywood co-production, the 1923 silent "Nangsao Suwan", which has unfortunately been lost. But many classic Thai films from the 1960s and '70s still exist, and they'll be screened on the beach.

The main venue is the town's Major Cineplex, with workshops and other activities will be at the InterContinental Hua Hin Resort. All films will have Thai subtitles.

Visit HuaHinFilmFest.com.

Lifescapes in Chiang Mai, February 2-5

-- The Nation 2012-01-12

[BookMan]

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