The Good, the Bad and the five indie Thai films in Bangkok's Italian Film Festival

Now in its second year, the MovieMov Italian Film Festival in Bangkok will again feature a selection of Thai films.

This year it's five indie movies, most of which have been critically acclaimed hits on the world's festival circuit.

They include 2009's Mundane History (Jao Nok Krajok, เจ้านกกระจอก) by Anocha Suwichakornpong; Tanwarin Sukkhapisit’s transsexual romance It Gets Better (ไม่ได้ขอให้มารั, Mai Dai Kor Hai Ma Rak); Tongpong Chantarangkul’s I Carried You Home (Padang Besar, ปาดังเบซา); and Rirkrit Tiravanija’s lengthy documentary Lung Neaw Visits His Neighbours (from last year's Venice festival).

And, from this year's Rotterdam fest there will be the Bangkok premiere of In April the Following Year There Was a Fire (Sin Mesa Fon Tok Ma Proy Proy, สิ้นเมษาฝนตกมาปรอยปรอย, a.k.a. Like Raining at the End of April), the debut feature by award-winning Four Boys, White Whisky and Grilled Mouse director Wichanon Somumjarn. It was recently featured in the new cinema competition at the 48th Pesaro Film Festival in Italy.

Opening Wednesday, the highlight of this year's Italian film fest is the retrospective of all of Sergio Leone's features, from The Collossus of Rhodes, to his spaghetti westerns, including The Man with No Name trilogy with Clint Eastwood, as well as Duck, You Sucker (a.k.a. A Fistful of Dynamite), Once Upon a Time in the West and the gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America. They'll apparently screen with an Italian soundtrack with English and Thai subtitles.

There's also newer Italian films, including the closing film, Dracula 3D, the latest film by horror master Dario Argento.

Held at SF World Cinema at CentralWorld, admission is free, with tickets being handed out 30 minutes beforehand. As with the other free film fests in Bangkok, movie-goers should anticipate standing in line an hour or two before show time to get these precious freebies. And with the rare chance to see the classic Leone films on the big screen, I think lot of thrifty punters will be turning out, so plan accordingly if you want to get a good seat.