Review: Skin Trade

• Directed Ekachai Uekrongtham
• Starring Tony Jaa, Dolph Lundgren, Ron Perlman, Michael Jai White, Celina Jade, Peter Weller, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa
• Released in Thai cinemas on April 23, 2015; rated 18+
• Wise Kwai's rating: 3/5

In order to have fight scenes, you must first have enemies, and Skin Trade gives Phanom “Tony Jaa” Yeerum plenty of those to deal with.

Along with roomfuls of anonymous henchmen to mow down, the Ong-Bak star also gets featured fights with experienced stars, something fans always clamor for. In Skin Trade, Jaa tangles with his much-taller co-star, action veteran Dolph Lundgren, a guy who has gone toe-to-toe with Rocky. And there’s Michael Jai White, the martial-artist and general bad-you-know-what. The Black Dynamite star gets into a knock-down, drag-out scene with Jaa.

The story is the barest of set-ups, standard Bangkok-noir elements that make up the canon of English-language Thai productions, in which foreigner gangsters are somehow allowed to operate without impunity. In Skin Trade (คู่ซัดอันตราย, Koo Sat Antarai), it’s a sleazebag family of Serbians who are trafficking young women through their network of gentlemen’s clubs, brothels and porn studios.

But unusually for a Thai film, some of the action is filmed overseas, with Vancouver, British Columbia, standing in for Newark, New Jersey, where a police officer (Lundgren) is leading an investigation against a former Serbian war criminal and current gangland kingpin. He’s played by Hollywood character actor Ron Perlman, who luxuriates in this thick bad accent.

The opening deftly toggles back and forth between Bangkok and the Garden State. On one side of the world, Royal Thai Police special branch officer Tony twirls around a luxury hotel room full of bad guys, to rescue a farmgirl from a life as a sex slave. Meanwhile, in Newark, there’s the discovery of a shipping container full of dead women, a scene that should resonate with fans of Season 2 of The Wire. Officer Nick gets into a dockland shoot-out, and ends up plugging the favorite son of the Serbian mobster. He retaliates by blowing up Nick’s house with a rocket, which leaves his wife and daughter dead and Nick with a facial scar.

The action then shifts back to Thailand, where a fugitive Nick arrives to a police welcome at Suvarnabhumi airport. A dodgy carpark shootout leaves Tony’s Thai cop partner dead and makes Nick an even bigger target, thanks to dirty double dealing by White’s character.

From there, Skin Trade proceeds at a mostly breakneck pace, running and gunning from tin-shack riverside slums to dusty warehouses to finally bring together to the two stars and turn them from enemies to friends. In the melee, Nick, in pursuit of the gangster Viktor, grabs a dirtbike and busts through a Chinese opera stage, while Tony pursues on foot. Of course, it's a chance to use his trademark acrobatic running and somersaulting through crowded market lanes, always a thrill.

There’s the featured fight with Lundgren, beautifully staged in a rice warehouse, and another with White. And in addition to the punch-ups, there are plenty of explosions, including a retaliatory rocket-launcher firing that brings down a helicopter.

Each actor gets their moment to shine. For Jaa, it’s a chance to try out new English-language skills. He’s always been a man of few words, mostly having to do with the location of a missing elephant. But he now has quips like “negotiation is over” or “you will rot in hell”, best said with a menacing hiss as someone is being dangled off the ledge of a five-star hotel.

Lundgren, with a polished granite exterior, is an big old softie inside, and his character is given just enough of a family life to make him someone with whom the audience can sympathize.

As the Serbian crime boss Viktor, Perlman sinks deep into that Eastern European accent, rolling off such phrases as “you have a strong heartbeat … there is a musicality to the rhythm”. The Hellboy star even gets to puff on one of his beloved cigars while dishing out punishment.

A handful of supporting characters also stand out. Celina Jade from TV’s Arrow is Tony’s girlfriend and playful sparring partner. A former sex-trafficking victim, she dons angel wings to work as an undercover informant in the Serbian club.

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, a veteran of Showdown in Little Tokyo and other Lundgren pictures, turns up as a local polician, who has just enough influence to keep the cops away from Viktor's rackets.

And RoboCop himself, Peter Weller, is Lundgren’s police chief back home. He gets a healthy bit of exposition to deliver, and a possibility of seeing more action in a sequel.

Even seasoned Thai character actor Sahajak “Puu” Boonthanakit gets his licks in. He’s played cops and bad guys in countless English-language productions here, but his perverted porn director this time around is especially memorable. Hopefully, he received counseling after the cameras stopped rolling.

It’s all held together thanks to execution by director Ekachai Uekrongtham, a helmer who is known for theater productions, such as Chang and Eng, about the original Siamese twins, and arthouse movies like Pleasure Factory, about Singapore’s Geylang red-light district. But his work on the 2003 transgender-fighter biopic Beautiful Boxer and his current Muay Thai Live stage show in Bangkok made him a natural choice to help showcase Jaa’s first headline effort as an international star. There’s no muss and no fuss, and the style is consistent, whether the action is taking place in a New Jersey police station or a bar on Sukhumvit Soi 7/1. Framing is still and steady, allowing viewers to take in the full picture of the action and feel the impact.

Talents behind the scenes who surely aided those efforts include cinematographer Ben Nott (Daybreakers), veteran production designer Ek Iemchuan (Tears of the Black Tiger and Ong-Bak 2) and stunt coordinator and second-unit director Dian Hristov (Expendables 2).

Produced by Craig Baumgarten, Lundgren and Jaa’s Bangkok-based manager and producer Michael Selby, Skin Trade is a project that Lundgren helped write and has been trying to get made for many years. It came to fruition when he met Jaa while working on a Thai film called Ai Noon Gangnam (A Man Will Rise), an intriguing "Eastern western" that was set up at Sahamongkol Film.

Much of the news about Skin Trade has been overshadowed by a contract dispute between Jaa and Sahamongkol, where he made Ong-Bak, Tom-Yum-Goong and the aborted A Man Will Rise. The studio went to court to try and to prevent the Thai release of Fast and Furious 7, Jaa’s Hollywood debut in which he has a small but memorable turn as a villain who tangles with Paul Walker.

Skin Trade gives Jaa a chance to prove himself as a leading man alongside Hollywood heavyweights, and he acquits himself well. Coming up next is Jaa’s Hong Kong debut in Sha Po Leng II. But perhaps a sequel to Skin Trade ought to also be in the works?

Related posts:

• Hi-Jaa! Skin Trade opens in Thai cinemas

Hi-Jaa! Skin Trade opens in Thai cinemas

Well, no sign of an injunction.

And so the career rehabilitation of Thai action star Tony Jaa continues uninterrupted in Thailand, with today's release of Skin Trade, a gritty crime drama that has Jaa teaming up with Swedish bruiser Dolph Lundgren to go after human traffickers in Bangkok.

The movie comes hot off the success of the worldwide blockbuster Fast and Furious 7, which had Jaa making his Hollywood debut as a fearsome enemy operative who briefly trades blows and action-movie quips with hero Paul Walker. It's fun stuff. He's even mentioned in reviews.

But Skin Trade is Jaa's big star vehicle as he embarks on this new international phase of his career. The movie was developed with the help of Lundgren and Jaa's new manager, Bangkok-based businessman and movie producer Michael Selby.

It's directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham, a filmmaker and theater director who has been celebrating some of his own success lately, with the nightly stage show Muay Thai Live: The Legend Lives marking one year of drawing crowds to the tourist-ensnaring Asiatique the Riverside Bangkok. Ekachai previously won widespread acclaim for his work on the fact-based transgender drama Beautiful Boxer, which was a winning mix of Muay Thai action and art-house sensibilities. Not exactly an action-movie fan, he talks more about his work on Skin Trade and being initially shaken by the explosions in an article in The Nation.

Skin Trade has Jaa as a Thai policeman who teams up with a vengeance-seeking New York cop (Lundgren) to go after Serbian mobsters who are running a human-trafficking ring in Bangkok. A heavily accented Ron Perlman also stars, along with Celina Jade, Michael Jai White and Peter Weller.

The project is something Lundgren had been trying to produce for a long time. The fair-haired birch of an actor made his breakthrough as an imposing Russian boxer in Rocky IV and is among the cast of Stallone's Expendables movies. He met Jaa when the two were at work in Thailand on movie called A Man Will Rise, which was set up at Jaa's former studio, Sahamongkol Film. At the time, Jaa's career was going through a transition, and he decamped from A Man Will Rise amid a still-boiling contract dispute.

He set to work on Skin Trade after filming his scenes for Fast and Furious 7.

Sahamongkol, which contends that Jaa has another 10-year contract to work off and owes them for the money they spent on the unfinished A Man Will Rise, had sought an injunction to block the release of Furious 7 in Thailand, and though that didn't work out for them, there was still a bit of concern they might try to pull a similar stunt to get Skin Trade banned.

Meanwhile, Jaa has another movie on the docket, the Hong Kong martial-arts drama Sha Po Leng II. A Thai release for that one is still in the works.

Check out the Thai trailer for Skin Trade, embedded below. The Thai title is Koo Sat Antarai (คู่ซัดอันตราย), which I'm guessing very roughly translates as A Dangerous Pair Accused. Maybe more-Thai-savvy readers can do a better job with that.

Hi-Jaa! Fast and Furious 7 is back on in Thailand

Fast and Furious 7, featuring the long-awaited Hollywood debut of Thai action star Tony Jaa, had been blocked from screening in Thailand by a court injunction, but now seems likely to screen here after all, opening on, no joke, April Fool's Day.

The story of this goes back to last week, just after Jaa finished a press conference to talk to Thai reporters about his own movie Skin Trade as well as his work in Fast and Furious 7 and the Hong Kong martial-arts flick SPL II. That same day, lawyers for Jaa's former employer Sahamongkol Film International, had obtained an injunction from the Civil Court, blocking the film's release.

Talk about bad timing for Jaa and his manager-producer Michael Selby, and by the time reporters at the press conference heard about it, Jaa was already in the air, jetting back to Los Angeles.

Sahamongkol's move to block Fast and Furious 7 was widely reported in the local and international press, but the reality of the situation seemed vague, and gave me pause, which is why I've waited until now to write about it. The supposed injunction seemed to have no effect, other than to get people talking about the film, probably the opposite of what Sahamongkol's domineering boss Somsak "Sia Jiang" Techarattanaprasert intended.

Thai fans of Vin Diesel's car-chase franchise took to the social networks to speak out against the injunction and called for a boycott of Sahamongkol films. That prompted prominent director MC Chatrichalerm Yukol to issue a plea to Thais to not boycott his upcoming film, The Legend of King Naresuan Part VI, which is distributed through Sahamongkol. Film Business Asia had more on that.

Meanwhile, Fast and Furious 7 posters that had been up for weeks still adorned the coming attractions boxes at cinemas, the trailers were still playing and multiplex websites were still touting advance ticket sales ahead of the April 1 release.

It seemed likely that Fast and Furious 7 – that really is what they are calling it in Thailand – was going to go ahead and play, in spite of the court's ruling. Indeed, one multiplex chain, SF Cinema City, said it planned to defy the injunction and show the movie anyway.

Then yesterday afternoon, word quickly spread that lawyers for Furious 7 distributor UIP had succeeded in getting the injunction lifted. So the initial court ruling seemed like an April Fool's prank by Sia Jiang that backfired.

Anyway, fans will get to see Jaa's villain Kiat tangle on the big screen with the late Furious star Paul Walker, in one of his last performances. Of course, there's a clip of the fight on YouTube, and it's embedded below.



At the heart of Sahamongkol's moves is a long-simmering contract dispute. Sia Jiang, recipient of a lifetime achievement honor at the recent Bangkok Critics Assembly Awards, insists that Jaa is under contract with his studio until 2023, as the result of an extension of his first 10-year contract, which kept him tied to Sahamongkol and only Sahamongkol. However, the contract extension was supposedly mailed to Jaa's old home address and apparently signed by a random family member. Jaa, who has become estranged from his family over various disputes (they don't much like his wife), insists the contract is not valid.

In filing for the injunction, Sahamongkol's lawyer named Jaa, Fast and Furious producer Universal and movie distributor UIP as defendants, and demanded 1.60 billion baht, or about $50 million, with 7.5 percent interest until payment is made. That's the amount of money Sahamongkol says it has invested in Jaa over the years, and includes 26 million baht given to Jaa to make the aborted "Eastern western" Ai Noom Gangnam, a.k.a. A Man Will Rise, which had Jaa co-starring with Dolph Lundgren. Those two apparently hit it off big time, declared mutual admiration and set off to work on Skin Trade. According to a story in The Nation today (generated from last Thursday's press conference), only about 20 percent of A Man Will Rise was completed.

Other sore spots with Sahamongkol over the years have included Jaa's infamous meltdown during the making of Ong-Bak 2 and the lackluster performance of 2013's Tom-Yum-Goong 2, which flopped in a local release that wasn't supported in the least by Jaa because he was already on the outs with the studio.

Meanwhile, Skin Trade is due in Thai cinemas on April 23. Selby produced it, and it's directed by Ekachai Uekrongtham, the helmer of the critically acclaimed Beautiful Boxer. In addition to Lundgren, the cast also had Ron Perlman, Peter Weller, Michael Jai White and Celina Jade in a story about an Interpol officer (Jaa) and a New York cop (Lundgren) fighting the Russian mob over human trafficking in Bangkok. Jaa also thinks that SPL II might be shown in Thailand, maybe sometime in June. I hope it does get a good release here. It looks fantastic. I wait with bated breath for more injunctions to be sought by Sahamongkol.

By the way, Jaa has stopped using his new Thai name Thatchakorn Yeerum, and has gone back to telling people his name is Phanom Yeerum, or better yet Jaa Phanom Yeerum, but only in Thailand where the new name never really stuck anyway. Elsewhere, he's just plain old Tony Jaa, international action-movie star.

Hi-Jaa! Where is he now? Plus Protector 2 in U.S, TYG2 in China

Better not let your elephant see you tinkling those ivories. Via Tony Jaa Official Facebook page

This is another installment of the occasional feature of this blog that catches up on news of Tony Jaa.

Tony Jaa recently wrapped a globetrot that took him to Hollywood, where he schmoozed with celebrities, and to Switzerland, where he performed handstands in a ritzy hotel lobby.

After a brief stop back home in Thailand, he jetted off again to start production on his Hong Kong action debut, SPL II, which will see him clashing with Wu Jing. Pou-Soi Cheang directs this sequel-in-name-only to 2005's SPL, which was directed by Wilson Yip, who's now producing. Original SPL leading man Simon Yam also stars.

You can follow all of Jaa's moves on his official Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Tom-Yum-Goong 2 opened over the weekend in select U.S. cinemas as The Protector 2. Reviews aren't pretty. They include the New York Times, Village Voice, New York Daily News, the AV Club and The Hollywood Reporter. A number of them say it's his "comeback" following his controversial "meltdown" during filming of Ong-Bak 2 and Ong-Bak 3, but really it's his swansong with studio Sahamongkol, which he left in the midst of making TYG2 during a contract dispute.

Now he's on to the next phase of his career, as an international action star and man of mystery.

Still, Sahamongkol is wringing Tom-Yum-Goong 2 for all it's worth, with a "wide release" recently in China – some 2,500 screens, the biggest yet for a Thai film. The Nation's Soopsip had more details about that, including a red-carpet appearance by Jaa's co-stars, Jeeja Yanin and Rhatha Pho-ngam.

A Blu-ray release for The Protector 2 is set for July 29.

Finally, it's the early 2000s again as Tony Jaa gets a mention in the newly reconstituted Kaiju Shakedown, the blog by Asian film raconteur Grady Hendrix. Now at home at Film Comment, Hendrix looks back at all the main figures of Thai cinema's boom days of the late '90s and early aughts, wondering "where are they now?"

Jaa, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Ekachai Uekrongtham, Banjong Pisanthanakun, Chookiat Sakveerakul and Nonzee Nimibutr – they've all been right here, steadily working. Just one of the stalwarts of the New Thai Cinema Movement mentioned – Wisit Sasanatieng – has faded from view. Perhaps Wisit could get his long-gestating Muay Thai biopic Suriya out of development hell with help from Jaa and a host of international backers?

Rhatha Pho-ngam and Jeeja Yanin on the Beijing film fest red carpet for the Chinese premiere of Tom-Yum-Goong 2.

Hi-Jaa! The Protector 2 streams, SPL 2 now even better with Yam

In case you missed it, this is a new occasional feature of the blog, in which I catch up on news of Tony Jaa.

Tom-Yum-Goong 2, Jaa's martial-arts swansong with his former studio Sahamongkol Film International, is [link to Amazon removed per DMCA takedown notice – I don't have time to deal with this bullshit Magnolia, so thanks for nothing].

Even though folks are pleased to see Jaa in action, reception is generally along the lines of "Tony Jaa loses fight with CGI".

Fans are more excited about Jaa's upcoming projects, such as Skin Trade, his action drama with Dolph Lundgren, Ron Perlman, Michael Jai White and Selina Jade.

The guys at Twitch, having seen Jaa's sneak peek at Skin Trade, were raving, noting that the director – Ekachai Uekrongtham of Beautiful Boxer fame – makes a big difference. They go on to lambast TYG and Ong-Bak helmer Prachya Pinkaew, and they make fair points, especially about the godawful Elephant White. I think Prachya has a better track record and more promising future as a producer – taking a supporting, mentoring role behind more distinctive directorial voices, such as Panna Rittikrai, Chookiat Sakveerakul and Tanwarin Sukkhapisit.

Back to news of Tony Jaa – you can follow his official updates on Facebook – work is continuing on Skin Trade and he'll also soon resume production on Fast and Furious 7. Much of that and more is covered in an interview with Asian Movie Pulse.

Also coming up is Jaa's Hong Kong debut SPL II, the sequel-in-name-only to the 2005 knock-down-drag-out that had Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung whacking each other with golf clubs. Neither of those two have been mentioned for the sequel, which stars Wu Jing. But Senh Duong's Movies With Butter notes that original SPL star Simon Yam will join the cast along with Max Zhang, the baddie from Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster. Soi Cheang (Accident, Motorway, The Monkey King) directs, taking over for Wilson Yip, who is still aboard as producer. Senh's still holding out hope for a Donnie cameo.

Hi-Jaa! Skin Trade sneak, back to Fast and Furious 7, love from JCVD

Catching up on news of Tony Jaa, the martial-arts star has recently wrapped up the Thai portion of production on Skin Trade, and he shared a sneak peek at the film on his Facebook page (embedded below).

According to Flicking Myth, the film stars Jaa and Dolph Lundgren along with Peter Weller, Michael Jai White, Ron Perlman and Celina Jade. Lundgren is a New York police detective whose family is killed by a Serbian mobster (Perlman). Following a lead, he ends up in Bangkok and teams up with a Thai cop (Jaa) to put an end to the Serbian mobster's human-trafficking ring.

Lundgren and Jaa had previously teamed up on the Eastern western A Man Will Rise – a movie that seems unlikely to see the light of day, thanks to Jaa's split with studio Sahamongkol Film International.

Skin Trade is directed by Beautiful Boxer helmer Ekachai Uekrongtham. He's been busy lately, having just put together a new tourist-oriented stage show, Muay Thai Live: The Legend Lives at Bangkok's Asiatique the Riverfront.

According to an anonymous, unsolicited e-mail, there's a controversy within the Thai film industry regarding Skin Trade and its status as a Thai or foreign production. Suffice to say, I'll be very surprised if the film is ever publicly screened in Thailand.

Post by Tony Jaa Official.

Meanwhile, according to Movies with Butter, Jaa will rejoin the cast of Fast and Furious 7 which resumes production in June after a hiatus due to the death of franchise star Paul Walker.

Jaa talks about Skin Trade and Fast and Furious 7 in an interview with the Action Elite.

And a last piece of Jaa catch-up, also from Movies with Butter – longtime mutual admirers Jaa and Jean-Claude Van Damme hope to make a movie together someday. For now, they are just making cute YouTube videos together (embedded below).

Ekachai directs Tourism Authority music video, starring Bird McIntyre

Beautiful Boxer and The Coffin director Ekachai Uekrongtham has directed a music video (embedded below) that's being used by the Tourism Authority of Thailand to attract Chinese-speaking visitors.

“Rong Hai Tham Mai” ("ร้องไห้ทำไม", "Why the Tears?") is a syrupy pop ballad sung by Thongchai "Bird" McIntyre, who is the TAT's tourism ambassador.

In the video, Bird, who had a big film role back 1997 as the Japanese officer in the star-crossed romance epic Sunset at Chaophraya, portrays a tour guide who witnesses the breakup of a woman (Taiwanese actress Sonia Sui) and her boyfriend (“Pong” Nawat Kulrattanarak). She escapes by jumping on Bird's tour bus, and she and Bird take in various attractions such as beaches, the Bung Bua National Study Centre in Prachuap Khiri Khan, Khao Wang in Phetchaburi and various places around Bangkok like the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, Chatuchak Weekend Market, the Giant Swing, Yaowarat Road and the Golden Mount. Meanwhile, that ex-boyfriend is lurking around the corner, watching as his ex gets close to Bird.

According to a TAT press release, the video will be broadcast in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore as well as "Chinatown districts" in Europe and Australia.

Cannes 2011: Four to try for funds in Thai Pitching Event

There are no Thai films in any of the official selections of the Cannes Film Festival this year. Say it ain't so.

But four Thai projects will make their cases for funding at the Thai Pitching Event, sponsored by the Culture Ministry's Office of Contemporary Arts and Culture.

The projects are:

• eNEMIES (พี่ น้อง ศัตรู เพื่อน) – Ekachai Uekrongtham directs this tale of boyhood friends that's set against the backdrop of the bloody 2003 "war on drugs" during the administration of Thaksin Shinawatra. Pantham Thongsang is producing. Ekachai, who previously directed Beautiful Boxer and The Coffin, is now staging the Muay Thai vs. B-Boy theatre production Boxing Boys in Bangkok, previously pitched Enemies at the Tokyo Project Gathering and at Pusan.
• A River's Tale (สายน้ำลูกผู้หญิง) – Rutaiwan Wongsirasawad, a veteran filmmaker, has long been at work on a follow-up feature project to her 2005 GTH family comedy Wai Ounlawon 4 (Oops, There's Dad). She also did a short for the Sawasdee Bangkok anthology and recently had a cameo in SuckSeed. A River's Tale is about young professional Bangkok woman dealing with an unplanned pregancy with her schoolteacher mother while on a visit back to her provincial riverside hometown. Siriphan Wattanajinda and Rungnapa Kittivai star. There's a sneak preview by Local Color Films. Pawas Sawatchaiyamet is producing. A River's Tale is among the Culture Ministry's "Strong Thailand" projects.
• Karma Police – Visra Vichit-Vadakan's film has Thailand's first female prime minister trying to send the first Thai into space. Meanwhile, a Buddhist monk pads his way around Bangkok's slums. Visra, an award winner for her Buddhist-themed short In Space, has previously pitched Karma Police at Rotterdam. She has also been supported by Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund.
• Three Marks of Existence (อินเดียรำลึก) – Krittanut Tarawisid directs this tale of a young man on pilgrimage to Buddhism's holy sights, and the various characters he encounters along the way. Autchavipa Pattapheesin is producing.

Full details and posters are available at the official blog. The Thai Pitching Event will be held May 11 to 16 at the Thai Pavilion in Cannes.

(Via Screen Daily)

The Red Eagle, Camellia at Cinemanila

The 12th annual Cinemanila International Film Festival is running just five days this year, from December 1 to 5, but there's a killer of around 100 movies that includes Wisit Sasarantieng's The Red Eagle and Iron Pussy: A Kimchi Affair, which is part of the Camellia Pan-Asian trilogy of Busan-set romances.

The Red Eagle is part of the World Cinema program that also includes Ekachai Uekrongtham's Singporean romantic comedy The Wedding Game, as well as such films as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Reign of Assassins and A Prophet.

Camellia, also featuring segments by Joon-Hwan Jang and Isao Yukisada, is part of the Mabuay, Mr. Kim!: Focus on Korean Cinema, in tribute to the Pusan International Film Festival's retiring director, Kim Dong-ho. The program also includes such films as Thirst by Park Chan-wook, Bong Joon-ho's Mother and Im Sang-soo's The Housemaid

There's a SEA Cinema line-up that comprises Ang Damgo ni Eleuteria by Remton Siega Zuasola and Halaw Sheron Dayoc from the Philippines, Red Dragonflies by Liao Jiekai from Singapore, Sunday Morning in Victoria Park by Lola Amaria from Indonesia and The Tiger Factory by Woo Ming Jin Year Without A Summer by Tan Chui Mui from Malaysia.

In observance of 20 years of the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, NETPAC Award-winning films to be screened are Animal Town by Kyu-hwan Jeon (South Korea), Au Revoir, Taipei by Arvin Chen (Taiwan), Divine Intervention by Elia Suleiman (Palestine), Floating Lives by Nguyen Panh Quang Binh (Vietnam) and Kaleldo by Brillante Mendoza and Pila Balde by Jeffrey Jeturian (Philippines).

The fest opens with the Taiwanese comedy about Filipino migrant workers Pinoy Sunday by Wing Ding Ho and closes with Amigo, veteran U.S. indie director John Sayles' look at the Philippine-American war of 1800-1902.

Tokyo International Film Festival 2010: Hi-So, Iron Pussy, Headshot and Ekachai

The Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee has a report today on the recent Tokyo International Film Festival, where Aditya Assarat's High Society was in the Winds of Asia-Middle East Competition.

Hi-So, an autobiographical tale by the director, with Ananda Everingham as his cipher, had premiered at the Pusan International Film Festival. I've heard Hi-So's Thai premiere was intended for the Bangkok International Film Festival, but now who knows when that's going to happen?

I know, we'll get to see it eventually.

Meanwhile, two of Aditya's Pop Pictures producing projects, Sivaroj Kongsakul's Eternity (ที่รัก, Tee Rak) and Tanwarin Sukhapisit's Insects in the Backyard, are taking part in the World Film Festival of Bangkok, starting tonight.

Also in Tokyo from Pusan was Camellia, the pan-Asian romance omnibus that includes Wisit Sasanatieng's and Michael Shaowansai's Iron Pussy: A Kimchi Affair. And who knows when we'll get to see that in Bangkok?

Tokyo's Winds of Asia-Middle East Prize went to Passerby #3 by Shin Su-won, with a special mention for The Tiger Factory, by Woo Ming Jin from Malaysia.

Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Ekachai Uekrongtham took part in the Tokyo festival's Tokyo Project Gathering, where Japanese director Ishii Yuya got the crown.

Pen-ek was vying for funds for Headshot (Fon Tok Kuen Fah, ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า, literally "rain falling upward"), the film-noir thriller adapted from Win Lyovarin's novel. Production, with "Peter" Noppachai Jayanama Cris Horwang in the leads, is already under way, with hopes for a premiere sometime, somewhere in May of next year. Hmmm ... You can join a Facebook group to keep Headshot firmly in your sights.

Beautiful Boxer director Ekachai it turns out was promoting several projects at the TPG. Something called Dessert Queen had earlier been mentioned, but from the sound of Kong's article today, it looks like his boyhood adventure drama Enemies is his prime focus.

Website and cast for Pen-ek's Headshot

Headshot, the new project in development by director Pen-ek Ratanaruang, now has a website.

The film-noir hitman tale also has a cast attached: "Peter" Noppachai Jayanama will play the hitman Tul. The Legend of King Naresuan II and Angulimala action star previously appeared in Pen-ek's Nymph and the director's Sawasdee Bangkok short Silence.

His co-star will be Cris Horwang, the Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story leading lady who's currently burning up the Bangkok big screen in Yuthlert Sippapak's hitman-romance Saturday Killer. In Headshot she'll be the love interest named Erin.

Filming is expected to take place from next month until sometime in January, with the possible release slated for May 2011.

The movie, based on the novel Fon Tok Kuen Fah (ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า) by S.E.A. Write Award-winning writer and Silpathorn Award laureate Win Lyovarin, is being touted as Pen-ek's return to the crime-drama genre. Here's the blurb from the website:

Tul, a hitman, is shot in the head during one assignment. He wakes up after a two-month coma to find that he sees everything upside down, literally. He goes back to his job, but his new affliction doesn't make things easy. Doubt starts to set in about what he does for living. But karma's a bitch, and the past starts to catch up with him. Then he meets a girl who turns his world even more upside down. Plus, who was trying to kill him in the first place?

From the director 6ixtynin9 and Last Life in the Universe comes a modern film noir about a man trying to forget his past but his past – and karma – won't forget him. Adapted from the novel Fon Tok Kuen Fah ("rain falling up to the sky") by award-winning writer Win Lyovarin.

Produced by Pawas Sawatchaiyamet and Raymond Phathanavirangoon, Headshot is among the scripts being pitched at the Tokyo Project Gathering from October 25 to 28. The movie has also been supported by the Culture Ministry's Thai Khem Kaeng (Strong Thailand) fund.

Also in the Tokyo Project Gathering is Dessert Queen by Beautiful Boxer helmer Ekachai Uekrongtham. It's described as "a sweet and magical fantasy drama ... about a mysterious encounter between a young modern Thai woman and a Japanese female head chef of the 17th century Thai Royal Court."

(Via New Territories)

Pen-ek's Headshot, Ekachai's Dessert Queen in Tokyo Project Gathering 2010

Pen-ek Ratanaruang and Ekachai Uekrongtham will present their projects at the Tokyo Project Gather as part of the Tokyo International Film Festival's Tiffcom market.

Pen-ek is presenting Headshot, being produced by Pawas Sawatchaiyamet and Raymond Phathanavirangoon. I don't know if this is the same project as Fon Tok Kuen Fah (ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า, or roughly "rain falling up to the sky", also "rain in blue"), which is adapted from Win Lyovarin's "film noir novel" about a hitman, but I suspect it is.

Ekachai is producing his Dessert Queen, and this is the first I'm learning of it. At previous project markets, the Beautiful Boxer director has been pitching the film adaptation of his Chang & Eng stage show about the original Siamese twins and Enemies, a thriller about Thailand's Thaksin-era war on drugs. Dessert Queen sounds different from either of those.

Also good to see is Monk on Fire, Vietnamese superstar Dustin Nguyen's long-in-development action followup to The Rebel. Casey Silver is producing. There's also projects from Malaysians Edmund Yeo and Woo Ming-jin (The Book Keeper), Indonesia's Nia Dinata and producer Constantin Papadimitriou (Trans Sumatra) and Vietnam's Minh Nguyen-Vo with a France-Canada co-production Dance of the Executioner.

The Tokyo Project Gathering runs from from October 25 to 28.

(Via Screen Daily, Film Business Asia)

HAF adds Wouter Barendrecht Award

The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum has dedicted an award to the memory of producer Wouter Barendrecht, which will go to new filmmakers.

Barendrecht is credited with helping a generation of Asian filmmakers reach a global audience. In addition to such names as Wong Kar-wai and Iwai Shunji, the producer and co-founder of Fortissimo Films also helped put Thai cinema on the world map, backing movies by the likes of Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Last Life in the Universe, Invisible Waves, Ploy), Wisit Sasanatieng (Tears of the Black Tiger), the Pang Bros. (Bangkok Dangerous), Ekachai Uekrongtham (Pleasure Factory) and Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century). Barendrecht was in Bangkok to see the rough cut of Pen-ek's Nymph when he died on April 5 last year, and the film was dedicated to him.

The new HAF award, worth HK$50,000, will be funded by the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation and the Film Development Fund, and will go to the HAF projects "by directors who have made less than three films". The winner will be selected by the Foundation’s representatives.

Other prizes at HAF are the HAF Awards, which go to one Hong Kong project and one from overseas and are worth HK$150,000 each; the Technicolor Asia Award, presented by Technicolor Thailand to a project that shows the highest potential for film financing; and the Paris Project Award, in which the winner goes to Paris Cinéma International Film Festival to participate in the Paris Project 2010.

Among the 25 selections for HAF this year are Ekachai's Chang & Eng (project PDF), an adaption of his 1997 stage musical about the original Siamese twins, and Lee Chatametikool's Past Love, set during the Asian financial crisis of 1995-97 (project PDF).

HAF will be held March 22 to 24, during the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

(Via AFA-Asian Film Awards)

Khan Kluay II wins best animation award at 53rd Asia-Pacific Film Festival

On hiatus because of financial problems for the past two editions, the 53rd Asia-Pacific Film Festival was held over the weekend in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, screening 58 films from 14 countries.

The lone Thai entry was the animated feature Khan Kluay II: Story of the Noble Warrior. Kantana Animation's feature won the best animation award in the festival.

Indonesian director Riri Riza's The Rainbow Troops won best film, and Taiwan was the big winner, with five awards, including best director for Leon Dai's No Peudo Vivir Sin Ti.

Here's the list of awards:

• Best Film: The Rainbow Troops, Indonesia
• Best Director: Leon Dai, No Peudo Vivir Sin Ti, Taiwan
• Best Actor: Nick Cheung, The Beast Stalker, Hong Kong
• Best Actress: Sandrine Pinna, Yang Yang, Taiwan
• Best Supporting Actor: Cheng Xu Hui, Money No Enough II, Singapore
• Best Supporting Actress: Widyawati Sophiaan, Woman with a Turban, Indonesia Best Screenplay: Accident, Hong Kong
• Best Cinematography: No Peudo Vivir Sin Ti, Taiwan
• Best Editing: Dev.D, India
• Best Music: Adrift, Vietnam
• Best Sound: Jamila and the President, Indonesia
• Best Documentary: Baseball Boys, Taiwan
• Best Animation: Khan Kluay II: Story of the Noble Warrior, Thailand
• Best Short Film: Hopscotch, Taiwan
• Outstanding Achievement: John Woo, Hong Kong
• Special Contribution: Raam Punjabi, Indonesia

Among the Singaporean entries was Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham's The Wedding Game

(Via Anak Wayang, DPA/Monsters & Critics)

PIFF '09: A look at Ekachai's Enemies at the Pusan Promotion Plan

Ekachai Uekrongtham is at the Pusan International Film Festival, where he's pitching his next feature-film project, Enemies.

The only Thai project accepted for the Pusan Promotion Plan, Enemies is a thriller set during the "war on drugs" during the Thaksin era in Thailand in 2003. The script is co-written by Kong Rithdee and it's budgeted at US$1.7 million (about 56 million baht).

The PPP 2009 Project Information is available for download (PDF). Let's crack that bad boy open and see what it says about Enemies:

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

“Thailand, 2003. The Thai Government officially declared a war on drugs on the 1st of February. Quotas were set. Battles were fought. It was an all-out attempt to defeat the “Enemy of the Nation” - drugs and drug dealers. Ten months later, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra declared victory on the war that managed to seize more than 40 million methamphetamine tablets and “put the country out of danger from drugs”.

There were heroes, villains, suspects, casualties and bystanders. There were achievements and there were mistakes. Four months after the war began, about 2,400 people were killed –- according to official figures. No further statistics on the death toll were released after that. It’s a chapter of in Thai history that I find difficult to forget and understand. Perhaps I never will.

Who are our saviors? Who are our enemies? Who do we trust? And what must we destroy?

Despite the volatile political backdrop the film is set in, I’d like Enemies to have a real sense of intimacy. Our camera will follow the characters like their second skin.

We are not peeping into their lives. We are there with them. It’s their journey as much as ours. If the images are raw, that’s because they’re reflecting the reality the boys are confronted with.

The landscapes that the two brothers travel through are bound to be breathtaking. But I’d like to think that what would take our breath away would be the boys’ changing emotional landscapes as they navigate through a drug war many have described as bogus, and a killing season so glorified it’d be hard to ever fade from our collective memory.

SYNOPSIS

From the award-winning director of Beautiful Boxer (Berlin, 2005), Pleasure Factory (Cannes and Pusan 2007) and The Coffin comes Enemies, a new film inspired by true events.

Set in 2003 when the Thaksin administration declared war on drugs and carried out widespread extrajudicial killings of alleged drug dealers, Enemies is a hard-hitting and impassioned film about two young brothers’ journey across the country after their father is brutally killed to “cut the link” and labeled an “Enemy of the Nation”.

Terrified after witnessing his father’s demise, 11-year-old Thon takes his 6-year-old brother Tor on a life-changing trip from Southern Thailand to Bangkok in the hope of finding their only relative.

Along the way, allies turn adversaries, truth becomes lies, sanctuaries transform into battlefields and killings are gleefully celebrated. Before their journey ends, the two innocent boys are forced to cut the link with their childhood and confront their true enemies.

April 2003. Southern Thailand.

It’s a beautiful ride.

Not because of the breathtaking scenery. Thon has seen that before. The 11-year-old Thai boy is sitting on a motorbike behind his father. They’re going along a road amidst a field of gold. Tall grasses sway in the wind. The sun is setting.

Wrapping his arms around his father’s waist, Thon can sense that his father is especially happy today. That makes Thon happy too. He holds his father tighter – wondering what good news his father has. He can’t wait to reach home.

A gun shot. More gun shots. The motorbike loses its balance and collapses.

Thon sees blood everywhere. It’s coming out from his father’s body. Thon looks up and sees policemen approaching. Then Thon hears his father telling him to run so he runs as fast as he can. The field of gold is turning red.

6-year-old Tor is chasing his puppy in a hut. The dog tries to hide. The boy tries to catch it. Then he notices someone approaching. It’s his elder brother Thon.

Thon tells Tor to quickly pack. Tor keeps asking why but Thon doesn’t answer. When they’re about to leave the house, policemen appear.

Thon grabs stuff from the house: clothes, pictures, a switchblade, the address of his father's sister in Bangkok and a bank book. They flee into the night.

So the boys’ journey begins. Will they succeed in running away from all the “enemies” –- lurking in every corner and within their hearts.

I hope they get funding for this, because it could be awesome -- a fact-based drama that tells a story from an all-too-quickly forgotten episode in Thailand's fast-moving recent political history.

Ekachai is keeping busy. After his Singapore romantic comedy The Wedding Game, released earlier this year, he's also directing the Bangkok theatrical production Breathe: The Musical, set for later this month, and he recently wrapped up duties on the Main Competition jury at the Bangkok International Film Festival.

PIFF '09: Busan bigger than Bangkok

Asia's biggest film festival is under way in the coastal city of Busan, South Korea, where the 14th Pusan International Film Festival is unspooling a record 355 films from 70 countries, with 98 world premieres. It's all happening in the Shinsegae mall in Centum City, a new purpose-built complex for the film industry that is being touted as "the Hub of Asian Cinema".

Thursday's opening night had a crowd of 10,000 people, on hand to greet a bevy of South Korean movie stars, watch a performance by K-pop's Girls Generation and be treated to a fireworks display. The opening film was the South Korean political satire, Good Morning President.

Josh Hartnett is there representing Hollywood’s A-list. He's starring in I Come with the Rain, a crime thriller set in Hong Kong and directed by Vietnamese-French filmmaker Tran Anh Hung. Another big name at the fest is Bryan Singer, whose latest producing project is a horror film, Trick ’r Treat. French director Costa Gavras and Italian cult-horror guru Dario Argento are giving master classes, as are Hong Kong director Johnnie To and China’s Jia Zhangke. Indian producer-director Yash Chopra is receiving the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award, which industry observers say is an "a belated olive branch" between the industries of South Asia and the East Asia.

As for the Thai involvement in the festival, I've been noting that all along here. There are films by Thai directors in the fest, including the world premiere of "Mai" Anocha Suwichakornpong's Mundane History, which will come back home next month to open the 7th World Film Festival of Bangkok.

Another premiere is the short, Phuket, by Aditya Assarat. Apichatpong Weerasethakul's short A Letter to Uncle Boonmee is there, as is Happiness of Kati, Khan Kluay II and the truncated Toronto cut of Sawasdee Bangkok.

Mundane History is competing in the New Currents line-up, which is being judged by a panel that includes Pen-ek Ratanaruang and is headed by French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix.

Ekachai Uekrongtham is there to pitch his next project, Enemies, in the Pusan Promotion Plan. I'll have more on that.

And indie director Pramote Sangsorn is receiving script-development support for his feature Tam Rasisalai from the festival's Asian Cinema Fund. There's more coming on that too.

Of course the Bangkok Post's Kong Rithdee has a roundup of the Korean connections in yesterday's Bangkok Post. And he has connections of his own to the fest, as he co-scripted Ekachai's Enemies and has a hand in the documentary Baby Arabia, supported by PIFF's Asian Network of Documentary Fund.

All the glitz and glamor that are spinning around this "hub" in Busan must have Thai film industry leaders and government officials in a tizzy. While Thailand boasts many film-production houses and studios that make it A hub of Asian cinema, can it really claim to be THE hub as Busan has?

Not that they haven't tried. After all, it was only a few years ago they said the Bangkok International Film Festival would be "bigger than Busan". But that was before a coup curbed the festival's free-spending ways and a bribery scandal further tainted the BKKIFF's reputation.

Where were the A-list stars at this year's BKKIFF? Were there fireworks? Was there a crowd of 10,000 people, eagerly waiting to see their favorite stars?

Hey, it's possible. Someday. Maybe. But there's no need to force it and look hamfisted. I think it will be good programming that attracts crowds and builds genuine excitement. It's already happening. Eventually that excitement will be build and the stars will want to come, and they'll be coming to promote films that are actually showing in the festival.

And of course it could be argued that the Thai government doesn't show the same kind of support for its film industry as South Korea's does. So Thai filmmakers go begging to other countries and compete for handouts with other filmmakers from developing industries. One way of becoming a hub would be to offer that support, not just for Thai filmmakers but for the region's.

The festival scene in Bangkok might not necessarily ever get bigger than Busan's, but it might one day be better, just because it is in Bangkok and not Busan.

(Photo via AP/Yahoo News)

Ekachai's Enemies make Pusan Promotion Plan

Enemies, a new project by The Coffin and Beautiful Boxer director Ekachai Uekrongtham, is among the 30 chosen for this year's Pusan Promotion Plan at the Pusan International Film Festival.

The PPP website has the complete list of projects, which were selected from approximately 200 submissions.

The 12th Pusan Promotion Plan will run from October 11 to 14, moving this year to the Seacloud Hotel at Haeundae Beach and running concurrently with the Asian Film Market, making for convenient one-stop shopping for industry folks. PIFF runs from October 8 to 16.

Meanwhile, Ekachai's latest movie, the Singaporean romantic comedy The Wedding Game, opens in Bangkok tomorrow for a limited run at the Lido cinemas.

(Via The Hollywood Reporter and Screen Daily)

Comments from filmmakers and stars at the World Comedy Film Festival

Sick of hearing about the World Comedy Film Festival yet? I know I am. But Lekha sent some more stuff as a follow-up to her earlier report, and I thought it had some pertinent things to say about the festival, so here it is.

Story and photos by Lekha J. Shankar

The inaugural World Comedy Film Festival has come and gone. There were good, bad, funny, un-funny films. There were sparse audiences . But there was much action outside the movie screenings -- parties, cruises, stand-up shows, beach-trips. All the delegates agreed that the Land of Smiles was unbeatable! If the festival’s aim was to give a big boost to the shaky image of the country and the battered tourism industry, after the recent political problems, it did succeed.

Where it could have improved was have more of an interaction with members of the Thai film industry, which would have proved beneficial to both the local and foreign film-folk. Here’s what the foreign film artistes had to say:



Singaporean Superstar Fann Wong, co-star of The Wedding Game with her fiancé Christopher Lee. The film by Ekachai Uekrongtham won the top prize at the festival.

Bangkok is very different from Singapore. I love to come here, to shop, to relax, to unwind -- it’s such a wonderful city! Christopher and I come here often, but this is the first time we have come with a film. I’m happy I met at least one Thai movie star ['Gof' Akara Amarttayakul], but would have liked to meet more."

American director Ari Gold, whose Adventures of Power was screened at more than 20 festivals around the world.

I’ve been to festivals with my film and Bangkok is very different. I’m disappointed I could not interact with my audience, and also with more Thai film folk, which is what’s most important for a filmmaker at foreign festivals. But I love the country! Phuket is so different than when I went there 10 years back. The hotels are outstanding!"

I’m also stunned by the film facilities and plan to convert my film from digi-beta to 35mm here. The service in studios like Kantana is so impressive.”

American actress Shosannah Stern, star of Adventures of Power.

I went to Chiangmai, which was beautiful! I love Thai food, which is so much better, here than in the US ! I wish I had met some Thai actresses -- I hear they are beautiful.”

Singaporean director Jack Neo, who screened three of his films in a retrospective.

The theatres and facilities in Bangkok are excellent, but I’m disappointed the audiences are so small. I do my post-production work here, and after this trip, I’m even more amazed by the facilities!"

Australian director Murray Fahey, winner of Best Short Film for The Code.

This is my first visit to Thailand and I simply love it! I wish I could have done a stand-up show with Thai comedians, like I did at the Berlin Film Festival, which was a great experience.”

Scottish director David Newbigging, maker of the short film Eyes on the Street.

This is so far from home, and our first visit to Asia. We love the heat, the food, the people, and I wish we didn’t have to go back. We also wish we had met more people from the Thai film industry, as we know nothing about Thai cinema.”

Indonesian producer Muslich Widjaya of Cinlok.

“My director and I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. We met only one Thai actor, but I wish we could have met more Thai film people so that we could know more about the Thai film industry.”

Malaysian actor-directors Hans Isaac and Afdlin Shauki, whose Wash was in competition.

We always come to Bangkok for our post-production work, but it was on this trip, that we realised how advanced, the film facilities are, and how many options we have! Thailand seems far ahead of Malaysia in the film area. We met a very pleasant Thai actor, but we would have liked to meet more Thai film folk, as we could possibly do a co-production.”

(Cross-published at The Nation Weblog)

First World Comedy Film Festival wraps up with award for The Wedding Game

Note: Lekha J. Shankar attended Tuesday night's closing ceremonies of the World Comedy Film Festival, and she sent the following report.

Story and photos by Lekha J. Shankar

Thailand's first World Comedy Film Festival concluded on Tuesday night with an entertaining closing film, the Hong Kong romantic comedy Look for a Star. There was also clowning around on the dais and Aussie stars strutting the red carpet at Bangkok's CentralWorld shopping center.

Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham's The Wedding Game was named Best Comedy Film. Starring Singaporean couple Christopher Lee and Fann Wong, it had opened the festival and was part of an eight-film lineup for the International Competition.

There are plans for a general theatrical release of both The Wedding Game and Look for a Star in Thailand. Sahamongkol has The Wedding Game and plans to roll it out on July 30, while Rose Media has slated a limited release for Look for a Star.

Singh is King, the mega-budget Bollywood comedy, shot in Australia, got a Special Mention. The best comedian award went to Lim Won-hie, star of the South Korean spy spoof Dachimawa Lee. The Audience Award went to Silent Wedding from Romania.

As for the Short Film category, the top award went to Australian stand-up comedian Murray Fahey for The Code, while Norwegian filmmaker Anne Sewitsky’s Oh, My God won a special mention. The Audience Award for short films was won by Los Angeles filmmaker Kevin Acevedos’ The Last Page.

That Audience Awards were given was ironic because attendance of the festival's films was pretty sparse.

American director Ari Gold, whose entertaining film on the unique subject of air-drummers, Adventures of Power has been to about 20 festivals around the world, including Sundance and Karlovy Vary, called the World Comedy Film Festival "strange" because of the lack of interaction with an audience.

Treated as a VIP, he was amazed at being flown to Phuket and spending a night in a super-luxurious room, which he heard cost as much as US$1,200 a night.


More opulence was to follow at Sunday's "Thai Nite" in the Siam City Hotel, when all the "celebrities" -- comedians, actors and TV stars, mostly from Australia, and little known in Thailand -- dressed up in spectacular traditional Thai costumes and raved about their fantastic trip to the Kingdom.

Probably the biggest actual celebrity was pocket-sized comedian Verne Troyer, who perched on the shoulder of his friend and said he only wished they would make less cars in Thailand, to ease traffic.

Attending the event were Malaysian filmmakers Hans Isaac and Afdlin Shauki, whose film Wash, about an Olympic window-cleaning competition, was screened in the Asian Comedy section. But "Thai Night" conflicted with the screening, and they were disappointed to miss it.

Another filmmaker who was disappointed at not having a Q&A for his film because he was asked to join a dinner cruise instead, was told consolingly that there wouldn’t be an audience in any case.

Singaporean director Jack Neo, who had a retrospective of three of his films, was shocked that he only had one person in the hall to watch his super-hit Money No Enough.

So what was the purpose of holding this 70-millon-baht film festival?

To make audiences laugh and celebrate comedy films, or to have a great party and celebrate the Land of Smiles?

Making audiences laugh would have been welcome in these troubled times, but showing the festival's guests a good time was the raison d'être.

Which is a pity, because a comedy festival should work well in a country like Thailand, where there are not too many takers for serious cinema. Judging by the loud laughs from the sparse audience, at a superb film like Leonid Gaidai's Diamond Arm, one felt sorry there were not more audiences to enjoy the Russian classic comedy, which was also shown on Sunday.

When asked if the Comedy Festival would continue, Weersak Kowsurat, chairman of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said he hoped it could be held at least once in two years. When queried by about the sparse audiences, he said with honesty that they "had not worked at audiences". Instead, they had worked at the daily 30-second television beaming of the stand-up comedians’ acts around the world, which would give a boost to the depleted image of Thailand after the political disturbances.


Well, the motley bunch of Australian stars who attended the festival will certainly have a lot to talk about, when they get back home,

And the party is not yet over. Wednesday is a day trip to Pattaya, which will reiterate that the beach-town has been cleansed of the swine flu.

Now that the image of the Kingdom has been resurrected, one hopes that the Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF) to follow -- the dates were finally announced for September 24 to 30 -- will focus on quality films and quantity audiences -- as every film festival should.

The BKKIFF did it fairly successfully last year and this year should be better. They would also go one notch higher, if organizers arranged for a strong interaction between folks from the Thai movie industry and those from abroad, which would be benefical to both.

The foreign filmmakers at the World Comedy Film Festival felt this was a big "miss" of the festival. Some of them "accidentally" met Thai director Ekachai, actor Gof Akara and actress Mamee Nakprasitte and said they thoroughly enjoyed the interaction.

The local stars who enjoyed the festival the most were the local farang stand-up comedians, Jonathan Samson and Joey Chernyims. They performed at the "Thai Nite" and said they’d never met so many comedians from around the world.

“This festival was a great exposure for comedy!” they exclaimed.

Hopefully, the World Comedy Festival will continue, and hopefully, a lot more audiences will partake in it, and realize that “ A day without laughter, is a day wasted.”



See also:

• World Comedy Festival ends: Who were the winners and was the festival a success? (Bangkok 1080)

Related posts:

• World Comedy Film Festival: Capsule reviews
• World Comedy Film Festival: Festival notes