Wise Kwai's Thai Film Journal: News and Views on Thai Cinema: Tentative date for Bangkok International Film Festival: July 21 to 30

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Tentative date for Bangkok International Film Festival: July 21 to 30

Kong Rithdee, writing for Variety, has the latest on the Bangkok International Film Festival, which the Tourism Authority of Thailand is still determined to put on, despite the bribery scandal that still hangs over the event.

The story continues:

We've set up the tentative date of July 21 to 30, but we still have to wait for the approval from the governor and to sort out other details," a TAT international spokesman said.

This year, the TAT will act simply as a host, and will transfer the operation to the Federation of National Film Associations of Thailand (FNFAT). The FNFAT will work in co-operation with the Thai Film Directors Association to program the festival.

But at the moment, the FNFAT and Directors Association are still waiting to for final approval from the TAT. Meanwhile, they are also seeking additional funding to top up the sums that the TAT is prepared to provide.

"We're determined to stick to the tentative date, but it's not confirmed 100 percent that the event will go through," Yongyooth Thongkongtoon, president of the Thai Film Directors Association told Variety.

So far, no programming work has been done, and the delay of the decision will even make the programming even more difficult, adds another Thai director.

Having the FNFAT and the Thai Film Directors at the helm could ensure that there is a strong slate of Thai films, both recent and classic. Hopefully they will have someone who is tapped into the international and regional cinema scenes for a broader selection of films to make the festival truly international, but as Kong's "another Thai director" says, the longer they wait to give the go-ahead, the harder it will be to gather the films.

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