World Film Festival of Bangkok - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The World Film Festival of Bangkok is an annual international film festival

Film festival

A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...

held between October & November in Bangkok

Bangkok

Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...

, Thailand.

The 8th Annual World Film Festival of Bangkok will be held between 5 - 14 November, 2010.

History

Nation Multimedia Group, a media company based in Thailand

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

, organised the first Bangkok Film Festival in the country in 1998. Various international films were screened to promote cinematic art and film appreciation in Thailand

Thailand

. The event was held annually until 2002. The Tourism Authority of Thailand became the main organizer and changed the name to the Bangkok International Film Festival

Bangkok International Film Festival

The Bangkok International Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Bangkok, Thailand, since 2003. In addition to film screenings, seminars, gala events and the Golden Kinnaree Awards.-First years:...

.

Since 2003, the World Film Festival of Bangkok has been held annually in October by the Nation Multimedia Group with Mr Kriengsak Victor Silakong as the festival director.

The 1st World Film Festival of Bangkok 2003 was held at the Grand EGV Theatre, Siam Discovery

Siam Center

Siam Center and Siam Discovery Center are twin shopping malls in Pathum Wan district, Bangkok, Thailand. Located at the BTS Skytrain's Siam Station, the malls are part of a large shopping district being opposite Siam Square, next to Siam Paragon and adjacent to MBK Center. Both are owned by Siam...

from October 17-26 with more than 80 international films both from young talent and cinema masters. The Retrospective

Retrospective

Retrospective generally means to take a look back at events that already have taken place. For example, the term is used in medicine, describing a look back at a patient's medical history or lifestyle.-Music:...

presented the works of Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang

Friedrich Christian Anton "Fritz" Lang was an Austrian-American filmmaker, screenwriter, and occasional film producer and actor. One of the best known émigrés from Germany's school of Expressionism, he was dubbed the "Master of Darkness" by the British Film Institute...

, Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray

Satyajit Ray was an Indian Bengali filmmaker. He is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema. Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature...

, Jean Cocteau

Jean Cocteau

Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, novelist, dramatist, designer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. His circle of associates, friends and lovers included Kenneth Anger, Pablo Picasso, Jean Hugo, Jean Marais, Henri Bernstein, Marlene Dietrich, Coco Chanel, Erik Satie, María...

and Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...

along with screening of more than 10 Indian films

Cinema of India

The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

. The Best Feature went to “Swimming Pool

Swimming Pool (film)

Swimming Pool is a 2003 thriller film directed by François Ozon and starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. The plot focuses on a British crime novelist, Sarah Morton, who travels to her publisher's upscale summer house in Southern France for solitude to work on her next book...

” from France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The jurors included Jiri Menzel

Jirí Menzel

Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...

, a Czech film legend and Naowarat Pongpaiboon, a Thai National Artist

Thailand National Artist

The National Artist is a title given annually by the Office of the National Culture Commission of Thailand, recognizing notable Thai artists in literature, fine arts, visual arts, applied arts and performing arts .Since 1985, the honors have been presented on...

in Literature Art.

In 2004, the Lotus Award was given for the first time to people who had devoted their careers to the film industry. The first honouree was Thai comedy master Dokdin Kanyamarn. Additionally, Mr. Tui, Dokdin's famous comedy, was remastered with English subtitles. This film was also presented in the “Masters of Comedy” program with films from world-renowned masters such as Jacques Tati

Jacques Tati

Jacques Tati was a French filmmaker, working as a comedic actor, writer and director. In a poll conducted by Entertainment Weekly of the Greatest Movie Directors Tati was voted the 46th greatest of all time...

, Charles Chapin

Charles Chapin

Charles Chapin was a New York newspaper editor. He was convicted of the murder of his wife and sentenced to a 20-year-to-life term in Sing Sing prison....

, Terry Gilliam

Terry Gilliam

Terrence Vance "Terry" Gilliam is an American-born British screenwriter, film director, animator, actor and member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam is also known for directing several films, including Brazil , The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , The Fisher King , and 12 Monkeys...

as well as Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts...

with his documentary film “Traces of a Dragon: Jackie Chan and his Lost Family

Traces of a Dragon

Traces of a Dragon is a 2003 documentary film directed by Mabel Cheung. The film explores the touching and history-filled background of Jackie Chan as we have never seen him before.-Overview:...

”.

The event also focused on seminars and activities by co-operating with the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam

International Film Festival Rotterdam

The International Film Festival Rotterdam is an annual film festival held in various cinemas in Rotterdam, Netherlands held at the end of January. It is approximately comparable in size to other major European festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, and Locarno...

and the Fonds Sud Cinéma from France

France

, to hold a discussion to guide film producers seeking international funds for their film projects. It also arranged a film rating system workshop that allowed the participants to categorize films shown at the festival.

After the workshop, the rating system was introduced to all films shown at the 3rd World Film Festival of Bangkok 2005. It also held a workshop on fund raising for new film projects with the support of the Festival of Three Continents from Nantes

Nantes

Nantes is a city in western France, located on the Loire River, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the 6th largest in France, while its metropolitan area ranks 8th with over 800,000 inhabitants....

, France and Produire Au Sud. At the end of the workshop, the most interesting film projects in Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...

were selected to receive funds and were invited to the final selection in France. This was the 2nd Produire au Sud Bangkok.

The 2005 festival featured the “Tsunami Digital Short Films”. Both Thai and international film-makers were given s budget from the Ministry of Cultural Office of Contemporary Art and Culture to make short films as a memorial tribute on the first anniversary of the tsunami disaster

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...

. Mr Kriengsak Silakong was an executive producer of the project. It included the works of a number of Thai directors, Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, and film producer. His feature films include Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, winner of the prestigious 2010 Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or prize; Tropical Malady, which won a jury prize at the 2004...

, Thunska Pansittivorakul

Thunska Pansittivorakul

Thunska Pansittivorakul , born October 22, 1973, is a Thai independent film director.-Biography:Thunska Pansittivorakul was born in Bangkok in 1973. He graduated from the Department of Art Education, Faculty of Education of Chulalongkorn University. He used to be a columnist of many magazines...

, Pramote Sangsorn, Lek Manont, Naowarat Saowanich, Pipope Panitchpakdi, Santi Taepanich, Pimpaka Towira

Pimpaka Towira

Pimpaka Towira is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter and film producer. Her films include One Night Husband and The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong.-Career:...

, Somkid Thamniamdi, Sompot Chidgasornpongse and Suchada Sirithanawuddhi and Christelle Lheureux from France, Folke Ryden from Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

and Margaret Bong Chew Jen from Malaysia. The short films were premiered at both this festival and many other international film festivals around the world.

Highlights in 2005 included the special guest and Academy Award-winning Polish film director Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

, who attended the festival for the Lotus Award presentation. His film Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist (2005 film)

Oliver Twist is a 2005 British drama film directed by Roman Polanski. The screenplay by Ronald Harwood is based on the 1838 novel of the same title by Charles Dickens....

was the opening film. Other highlights were the film screenings from the Czechoslovak New Wave

Czechoslovak New Wave

The Czechoslovak New Wave is a term used for the early films of 1960s Czech directors Miloš Forman, Věra Chytilová, Ivan Passer, Jaroslav Papoušek, Jiří Menzel, Jan Němec, Jaromil Jireš, Vojtěch Jasný, Evald Schorm and Slovak directors Juraj Herz, Juraj Jakubisko, Štefan Uher, Ján Kádár, Elo...

and Turkish film

Cinema of Turkey

Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....

s. Focus and the Retrospective of the films of Ulrike Ottinger

Ulrike Ottinger

Ulrike Ottinger is a German filmmaker, documentarian photographer and professor at European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland.-Biography:From 1959 she was a visiting student at the Academy of Arts in Munich and worked as a painter...

and Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Jean-Pierre Jeunet

-Life and career:Jean-Pierre Jeunet was born in Roanne, Loire, France. He bought his first camera at the age of 17 and made short films while studying animation at Cinémation Studios. He befriended Marc Caro, a designer and comic book artist who became his longtime collaborator and...

. War and Peace

War and Peace (1968 film)

War and Peace is a Soviet-produced film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. Sergei Bondarchuk directed the film, co-wrote the screenplay and also acted in the lead role of Pierre. It was produced over a seven year period and released in four parts between 1965 and...

, a seven-hour epic film based on the eponymous book, was shown and attracted great interest.

The Best Feature 2005 went to the Sri Lankan film

Cinema of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan cinema encompasses the films made in Sri Lanka. It is a fledgling industry that has struggled to find a footing since its inauguration in 1947 with Kadawunu Poronduwa produced by S.M.Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone.Sri Lankan films are usually made in the Sinhalese language, the...

The Forsaken Land by Vimukthi Jayasundara

Vimukthi Jayasundara

Vimukthi Jayasundara is an award winning Sri Lankan film director.-Early life:Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. He was educated at Mahinda College, Galle. Vimukthi began his cinematic career as a journalist, film critic and screenwriter. He attended the Institute for Film and...

and led to a provocative and lively discussion as to the facts shown in the film.

With the support of the Polish Embassy, the 4th World Film Festival of Bangkok 2006 presented a Retrospective of the late and legendary Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Krzysztof Kieślowski was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalogue and Three Colors.-Early life:...

and included his hard-to-find works like The Calm, Short Working Day and The Underground Passage. Special events featured the poster exhibition of artist and designer Rafał Olbiński, who was one of the jurors.

The festival opened with the Chinese big-budget movie The Banquet from the director Feng Xiaogang

Feng Xiaogang

Feng Xiaogang , in is a Chinese film director. He is famous in China as being perhaps the most successful "commercialized" filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well in the box office, although Feng has attempted to break out from that mold by making drama or period drama films...

before its wide release in Thailand. Additionally, it won the People's Choice Award.

The 5th World Film Festival of Bangkok 2007 was held at the The Esplanade Cineplex

The Esplanade (Bangkok)

The Esplanade is a shopping and entertainment complex on Ratchadaphisek Road in Din Daeng district, Bangkok, with a second branch on Rattanathibet Road in Nonthaburi.-History:Anchored by the Esplanade Cineplex, the shopping mall opened in December 2006...

with the concept “Catch the Feeling”. The festival continued to retain its emphasis on vigorous and enthusiastic international films from various cultures, together with special activities. This festival was honoured by The European Union Film Festival joining the event with its best 20 European feature films.

The 2007 film festival as it co-operated with MCOT Public Company Limited

MCOT

MCOT Public Company Limited )) is a Thai media conglomerate. Its origins date back to the creation in 1955 of Thailand's first television broadcaster, The Thai Television Company Limited. In 1977, this company was reconstituted as a state enterprise, the Mass Communications Organization of Thailand...

to hold a short film competition open to the public. Students focused on “Father” and “The World through My Eyes”, based on the poem of the 2007 S.E.A. Write Award

S.E.A. Write Award

The S.E.A. Write Award, or Southeast Asian Writers Award, is an award that has been presented annually since 1979 to poets and writers in Southeast Asia....

winner Montri Sriyong respectively.

The activity “From Books to Celluloid” featured talks on Butterfly and Flowers

Butterfly and Flowers

Butterfly and Flowers is a 1985 Thai drama film directed by Euthana Mukdasanit, set in Muslim-majority southern Thailand. The film was screened at the 1985 Hawaii International Film Festival, one of the earliest Thai films to gain exposure outside Thailand.The film is adapted from a 1978 novel of...

with the writer Nippan and the director Euthana Mukdasanit

Euthana Mukdasanit

Euthana Mukdasanit is a Thai film director and screenwriter. As a contemporary of Chatrichalerm Yukol, Euthana was among a group of directors that during the 1970s made films that focused on social problems...

, and “Conversation with Suchart Sawadsri” with this prominent writer for his debut of short films “Personal Histories” which also screened at the festival.

The 2007 Lotus Award was presented to Euthana Mukdasanit, while the Best Feature was “Import/Export

Ulrich Seidl

Ulrich Seidl is an Austrian film director, writer and producer.-Selected filmography:* 1990 Good News* 1992 Loss Is to Be Expected * 1995 Animal Love ...

” from Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. The People’s Choice Award was discontinued.

In 2008, the festival's theme was "No Movies, No Life". Held at Siam Paragon

Siam Paragon

Siam Paragon is a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand. It is one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia. Opened on December 9, 2005, it includes a wide range of specialty stores and restaurants as well as a multiplex movie theater and the Siam Ocean World...

, it opened with the romantic drama A Moment in June, which had been the first film selected from the Produire Au Sud Bangkok workshop. Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...

's Shine a Light

Shine a Light (film)

Shine a Light is a 2008 documentary film directed by Martin Scorsese documenting The Rolling Stones' 2006 Beacon Theatre performance on their A Bigger Bang Tour. The Scorsese film also includes archive footage from the band's career and marked the first utilisation by Scorsese of digital...

was the closing film. Around 80 films were shown, with a retrospective on Derek Jarman

Derek Jarman

Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...

, tribute to Héctor Babenco

Hector Babenco

Héctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....

and five films by Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal is a prolific Indian director and screenwriter. With his first four feature films Ankur , Nishant Manthan and Bhumika he created a new genre, which has now come to be called the "middle cinema" in India although he himself has expressed dislike in the term preferring his work to...

, recipient of the 2008 Lotus Award. The Harvest of Talents competition was suspended.

Awards

With an emphasis on predominantly independent film

Independent film

An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...

s from mostly emerging directors, the festival's competition section is the Harvest of Talents. Awards are given for best feature, best director, best script and best artistic direction, though from year to year, jurors are given flexibility of changing the categories, depending on the merits of the selected films. For example, one year there might be a Best Cinematography award, but not in other years. In 2007, the jury did not want to give an award for best script, and the artistic direction award was changed to "artistic creativity." The jury is also free to give special jury awards. A People's Choice Award goes to the film with highest attendance, and is open to all films in the festival. Non-competitive sections of the festival include Aean Cinema, Asian Contemporary, Documentary, Retrospective, Tribute, World Cinema and Short Film.

In 2004, the festival give its first Lotus Award, given to veteran filmmakers for lifetime achievement. The first honoree was Thai actor-director Dokdin Kanyamarn. Subsequent honorees have included Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

, Euthana Mukdasanit

Euthana Mukdasanit

and Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

.

In 2005, the festival initiated its Produire Au Sud (Producing in the South) project, in cooperation with the Festival of Three Continents, which seeks to provide funding to independent film producer

Film producer

A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...

s to start new film projects.

The Harvest of Talents competition was suspended in 2008.

Harvest of Talents competition

Jury members were Jiri Menzel

Jirí Menzel

Jiří Menzel is a Czech film director, theatre director, actor, and screenwriter. His films often combine a humanistic view of the world with sarcasm and provocative cinematography...

(filmmaker, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

), Guy de la Chevalerie (French Embassy cultural conseller, France

France

), Dr. Hans-Peter Rodenberg (Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

), K.S.Sasidharam (Director of National Film Archive of India, PUNE, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

), Naovarat Pongpaiboon (Thailand National Artist

Thailand National Artist

for literature, Thailand

Thailand

), Nick Palevsky (film specialist, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

)

Films in competition

Anaahat (Amol Palekar
Amol Palekar
Amol Palekar is an Indian actor of the 1970s and a director of Hindi and Marathi cinema.-Theater career:Palekar began in Marathi experimental theatre with Satyadev Dubey, and later started his own group, Aniket, in 1972 [citation needed]...

, India
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

)
Arimpara
A Story That Begins at the End
A Story That Begins at the End is a 2003 Indian drama film directed by Murali Nair. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...

(Murali Nair, India)
It’s Easier for a Camel (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi
Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, also spelled Bruni-Tedeschi, is an Italian-French actress.-Personal life:...

, France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

)
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe
Last Life in the Universe is a 2003 Thai film directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The film is notable for being trilingual; the two main characters flit from Thai to Japanese to English as their vocabulary requires...

(Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang
Pen-Ek Ratanaruang is a Thai film director and screenwriter. He is best known for his arthouse work, Last Life in the Universe, and is considered to be one of Thai cinema's leading "new wave" auteurs, alongside Wisit Sasanatieng and Apichatpong Weerasethakul...

, Thailand
Cinema of Thailand
The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...

)
Spring Subway
Spring Subway
Spring Subway is a 2002 Chinese romance film directed by Zhang Yibai and starring Xu Jinglei and Geng Le. Sixth Generation director Zhang Yang also plays a role. The film represents a relatively new genre in China, the artistic "commercial film" with its international urban sensibilities designed...

(Zhang Yibai
Zhang Yibai
Zhang Yibai is a Chinese film director.-Directorial career:Zhang began his career in television and music videos before directing his debut, Spring Subway in 2002....

, China
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...

)
Stormy Weather
Stormy Weather (2003 film)
Stormy Weather is a 2003 French-Icelandic drama film directed by Sólveig Anspach. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Cast:* Élodie Bouchez - Cora* Didda Jónsdóttir - Loa* Baltasar Kormákur - Einar...

(Pedro Olea, Spain
Cinema of Spain
The art of motion-picture making within the nation of Spain or by Spanish filmmakers abroad is collectively known as Spanish Cinema.In recent years, Spanish cinema has achieved high marks of recognition as a result of its creative and technical excellence...

)
Swimming Pool
Swimming Pool (film)
Swimming Pool is a 2003 thriller film directed by François Ozon and starring Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. The plot focuses on a British crime novelist, Sarah Morton, who travels to her publisher's upscale summer house in Southern France for solitude to work on her next book...

(Francois Ozon
François Ozon
François Ozon is a French film director and screenwriter and whose films are usually characterized by sharp satirical wit and a freewheeling view on human sexuality....

, France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

)
The Wind Bird (Inoka Sathyangan, Sri Lanka
Cinema of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cinema encompasses the films made in Sri Lanka. It is a fledgling industry that has struggled to find a footing since its inauguration in 1947 with Kadawunu Poronduwa produced by S.M.Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone.Sri Lankan films are usually made in the Sinhalese language, the...

)

Awards

Best Feature: Swimming Pool
Best Script: Swimming Pool
Best Art Direction: Anaahat
Jury’s Prize: Last Life in the Universe
People’s Choice Award: Russian Ark
Russian Ark
Russian Ark is a 2002 Russian historical drama film directed by Alexander Sokurov. It was filmed entirely in the Winter Palace of the Russian State Hermitage Museum using a single 96-minute Steadicam sequence shot...

(Russia
Cinema of Russia
The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed under the Soviet and in the years following the fall of the Soviet system, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognised...

)

2nd World Film Festival of Bangkok (2004)

Harvest of Talents competition

Jury members were Prof. Surapone Virulrak (Dean, Faculty of Communication Arts, Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn University

Chulalongkorn University is the oldest university in Thailand and is the country's highest ranked university. It now has nineteen faculties and institutes. Regarded as the best and most selective university in Thailand, it consistently attracts top students from around the country...

, Thailand

Thailand

), Andreas Strohl (Director of Munich Filmfest, Executive Director of International Munchner Filmwochen GmbH, Managing Director of International Festival of Film Schools Munich, Germany

Germany

), Christian Jeune (Director of Film Department, Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

, France

France

), Renen Schorr

Renen Schorr

Renen Schorr is a film director, screenwriter, film producer. In 1989, he became head of Israel’s first independent, national school for film and television. He then founded the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School – Jerusalem, and has served as its director since that time.-Background:Son of a physician,...

(Founder-Director of the Sam Spiegel Film & TV School, Jerusalem, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

), Vincent Wang (film producer, Taiwan

Taiwan

Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...

)

Films

Aviv
Aviv (2003)
Aviv is a 2003 documentary about the Israeli singer/songwriter Aviv Geffen.The film focuses on the life story of the Israeli singer/songwriter Aviv Geffen, who developed from an awkward little boy who was neglected by parents that “would rather buy hash than toys” into a nationally celebrated...

(Tomer Heymann
Tomer Heymann
Tomer Heymann is an Israeli filmmaker.- Life :Heymann has directed many documentary films and series in the past ten years, most of them long-term follow-ups and personal documentations. His films won major awards at different prestigious film festivals including his first film “It Kinda Scares...

, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

)
Lost Embrace (Daniel Burman
Daniel Burman
Daniel Burman is a film director, screenplay writer, and producer.According to film critic Joel Poblete, who writes for Mabuse, a cinema magazine, Daniel Burman is one of the members of the so-called "New Argentina Cinema" which began c...

, Argentina
Cinema of Argentina
The cinema of Argentina has a tradition dating back to the late nineteenth century, and continues to play a role in the culture of Argentina....

)
Suite Habana
Suite Habana
Suite Habana is a 2003 Cuban documentary directed by Fernando Pérez.The documentary was filmed with fictional cinema techniques depicting a day in a life of thirteen real people, from a ten-year-old child with Down Syndrome to a 79-year-old lady who sells peanuts in the street.The film has no...

(Fernando Perez
Fernando Pérez
Fernando Pérez Valdés is a prominent Cuban film director.Pérez graduated from the University of Havana with a degree in Language and Spanish Literature, and began working in the Cuban film industry in 1971 as an assistant director, before directing his first documentary in 1975.His feature debut...

, Cuba
Cinema of Cuba
Cinema arrived in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century. Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, about 80 full-length films were produced in Cuba. Most of these films were melodramas...

)
Seaward Journey (Guillermo Casanova, Uruguay
Cinema of Uruguay
The Cinema of Uruguay has a role in the Culture of Uruguay. The industry has many actors and directors that made the Uruguayan cinema a part of Latin American cinema.-The early days:...

)
Or ( Keren Yedaya
Keren Yedaya
Keren Yedaya is an Israeli filmmaker. She was born in the United States, but her family moved to Israel in 1975 when she was just three. She trained at the Camera Obscura School of Art in Tel Aviv....

, Cinema of Israel|Israel)
The Edukators
The Edukators
The Edukators is a German-Austrian film made by the Austrian director Hans Weingartner and released in 2004. Nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, it stars Daniel Brühl, Stipe Erceg and Julia Jentsch....

(Hans Weingartner
Hans Weingartner
Hans Weingartner is an Austrian author, director and producer of films. He attended the Austrian Association of Cinematography and earned a diploma as a camera assistant. Later, he did a postgraduate at the Academy of Media Arts KHM in Cologne, Germany...

, Germany
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...

)
Breath of Fresh Air (Sandeep Sawant, India
Cinema of India
The cinema of India consists of films produced across India, which includes the cinematic culture of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Indian films came to be followed throughout South Asia and...

)
The Fifth Reaction (Tahmineh Milani
Tahmineh Milani
Tahmineh Milāni is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and producer.-Early life:Milani was born 1960 in Tabriz, Iran. Of Azeri descent, she is the wife of the Iranian actor and producer Mohammad Nikbin.- Early career :...

, Iran
Cinema of Iran
The cinema of Iran is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are annually made in Iran, and Iranian art films win praise around the world....

)
Honey Baby (Mika Kaurismaki
Mika Kaurismäki
Mika Juhani Kaurismäki is a Finnish film director.He is the elder brother of Aki Kaurismäki, and the father of Maria Kaurismäki who graduated from Tampere School of Art and Media in 2008 with her movie Sideline.Mika Kaurismäki has lived in Brazil since approximately 1992 and has made several...

, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

)

Awards

Best Feature: Lost Embrace
Best Script: The Edukators
Best Art Direction: Seaward Journey
Jury’s Prize: Aviv
People’s Choice Award: Torremolinos 73
Torremolinos 73
Torremolinos 73 is a 2003 Spanish/Danish comedy film directed by Pablo Berger.-Plot:The protagonist, Alfredo López, is an exasperated encyclopedia salesman for the Montoya Publishing House and lives with his faithful wife Carmen in 1973 Spain...

(Spain
Cinema of Spain
The art of motion-picture making within the nation of Spain or by Spanish filmmakers abroad is collectively known as Spanish Cinema.In recent years, Spanish cinema has achieved high marks of recognition as a result of its creative and technical excellence...

)
Lotus Award: Dokdin Kanyamarn

3rd World Film Festival of Bangkok (2005)

Held from October 14 to 24. Special guests included Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

(with a retrospective of his films) and the premiere of the Tsunami Digital Short Films, curated by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Harvest of Talents competition

Jury members were Nadine Tarbouriech (Film Editor
, France

France

), Robert Haliday (film critic, USA), Grittiya Gaweewong (art curator, Thailand

Thailand

), Sonthaya Subyen (Film Programmer, DK Film House, Thailand

Thailand

), Michal Bregant (Dean of Prague Film Academy, Czech Republic

Czech Republic

The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....

)

Films

Forsaken Land (Vimukthi Jayasundara
Vimukthi Jayasundara
Vimukthi Jayasundara is an award winning Sri Lankan film director.-Early life:Vimukthi Jayasundara was born in Ratnapura, Sri Lanka. He was educated at Mahinda College, Galle. Vimukthi began his cinematic career as a journalist, film critic and screenwriter. He attended the Institute for Film and...

, Sri Lanka
Cinema of Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan cinema encompasses the films made in Sri Lanka. It is a fledgling industry that has struggled to find a footing since its inauguration in 1947 with Kadawunu Poronduwa produced by S.M.Nayagam of Chitra Kala Movietone.Sri Lankan films are usually made in the Sinhalese language, the...

)
One Night (Niki Karimi
Niki Karimi
Niki Karimi , born 10 November 1971 in Tehran, is a multi-award–winning Iranian actress and movie director.- Biography :Niki Karimi was born and raised in Tehran. She participated in theatrical work while she was in elementary school. Her hobby of reading and watching movies from an early age...

, Iran
Cinema of Iran
The cinema of Iran is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are annually made in Iran, and Iranian art films win praise around the world....

)
Live Your Dream
Live Your Dream
"Live Your Dream" is the first single taken from beFour's third studio album We Stand United ,in Germany, Austria and Switzerland . As of March 28, the song has officially entered the German Singles Chart...

(Peter Lichtefeid, Germany
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...

)
4 (Ilya Khrzhanovsky
Ilya Khrzhanovsky
Ilya Andreevich Khrzhanovsky is a Russian film director. He is the son of Andrei Khrzhanovsky , one of the top Russian animation directors, and grandson of actor Yury Khrzhanovsky ....

, Russia
Cinema of Russia
The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed under the Soviet and in the years following the fall of the Soviet system, the Russian film industry would remain internationally recognised...

)
Battle in Heaven (Carlos Reygadas
Carlos Reygadas
Carlos Reygadas is a Mexican filmmaker known for his three films Batalla en el Cielo, Japón and Silent Light . After Batalla en el Cielo, he was known for his raw depiction of sex in his films and the use of old or ugly-seeming characters...

, Mexico)
Days of Santiago (Josue Mendez
Josué Méndez (director)
Josué Méndez is a Peruvian director of films including Dias de Santiago and Dioses . Dias de Santiago is about a cab driver in Lima, Peru...

, Peru
Cinema of Peru
While the Peruvian film industry has not been nearly as prolific as that of some other Latin American countries, such as Mexico or Argentina, some Peruvian movies produced enjoyed regional success. The first Peruvian sound film was Alberto Santana's Resaca, which was released in 1934...

)
Grand Voyage (Ismael Ferrouji, Morocco
Culture of Morocco
Morocco is a country of multi-ethnic groups with a rich culture, civilization, and etiquette. Through Moroccan history, Morocco hosted many people in addition to the indigenous Berbers, coming from both East , South and North . All of which have had an impact on the social structure of Morocco...

)
Angel’s Fall (Semih Kaplanoglu
Semih Kaplanoglu
Semih Kaplanoğlu is a Turkish playwright, film director and producer.-Career:He graduated from the Cinema and Television Section of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Dokuz Eylül University in his hometown...

, Turkey
Cinema of Turkey
Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....

)
La Moustache
La Moustache
La Moustache is a French film from 2005, directed by Emmanuel Carrère and starring Vincent Lindon, and adapted from Carrère's own novel. The film features music from Phillip Glass...

(Emmanuel Carrere
Emmanuel Carrère
Emmanuel Carrère is a French author, screenwriter and director. He is the son of Louis Édouard Carrère, often known as Louis Carrère d'Encausse after his wife's pen name, and French historian Hélène Carrère d'Encausse....

, France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

)
Turn Left at the End of the World (Avi Nesher
Avi Nesher
Avi Nesher is an Israeli film producer, film director, screenwriter and actor.- Biography :Avi Nesher was born and raised in Ramat Gan, Israel. The child of a Romanian-born diplomat, and a mother who came from Russia. In 1965, he moved with his family to the United States...

, Israel
Culture of Israel
The culture of Israel developed long before the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948 and combines the heritage of secular and religious lives. Much of the diversity in Israel's culture comes from the diversity of its population...

)

Awards

Best Feature: Forsaken Land
Best Script: Days of Santiago
Best Art Direction: 4
Jury’s Prize: Turn Left at the End of the World
People’s Choice Award: Grand Voyage
Lotus Award: Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

4th World Film Festival of Bangkok (2006)

Held from October 11 to 23 at Paragon Cineplex

Siam Paragon

, Major Cineplex

Major Cineplex

Major Cineplex Group Public Co. Ltd. is the largest operator of movie theaters in Thailand. Combined with its subsidiary, EGV Entertainment, the company has 258 screens in 32 locations. Among its properties is Thailand's largest multiplex, the Paragon Cineplex at Siam Paragon, with 16 screens and...

Central World and Grand EGV. Special guests included Polish poster designer Rafal Olbinski

Rafal Olbinski

Rafal Olbinski immigrated to the United States in 1981, where he soon established himself as a prominent painter, illustrator and designer. For his artistic achievements, he has received more than 150 awards including Gold and Silver Medals from the Art Directors Club of New York, Gold and Silver...

, who also was on the Harvest of Talents jury. Other jurors were Thai

Cinema of Thailand

The cinema of Thailand dates back to the early days of filmmaking, when King Chulalongkorn's 1897 visit to Bern, Switzerland was recorded by Francois-Henri Lavancy-Clarke. The film was then brought to Bangkok, where it was exhibited...

film critic Anchalee Chaiworaporn, Austrian

Cinema of Austria

Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...

director Titus Leber

Titus Leber

Titus Leber is a writer and director of films based on classical music.- Biography :Titus Leber was born in Zell am See, Austria. He studied at the Lycée Français de Vienne, where he received a baccalaureate degree in 1969 and a Ph.D in mass media communication in 1975...

, Iranian

Cinema of Iran

The cinema of Iran is a flourishing film industry with a long history. Many popular commercial films are annually made in Iran, and Iranian art films win praise around the world....

director
Tahmineh Milani

Tahmineh Milani

Tahmineh Milāni is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and producer.-Early life:Milani was born 1960 in Tabriz, Iran. Of Azeri descent, she is the wife of the Iranian actor and producer Mohammad Nikbin.- Early career :...

and Turkish

Cinema of Turkey

Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....

actress
Meltem Cumbul

Meltem Cumbul

Meltem Cumbul is a Turkish actress and TV personality.- Biography :At 21, Meltem graduated from a university with a major in drama. She then worked as an actress for the Shakespeare Company in London...

. The festival opened with the Chinese film The Banquet and closed with the Russian silent classic The Battleship Potemkin

The Battleship Potemkin

The Battleship Potemkin , sometimes rendered as The Battleship Potyomkin, is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm...

Films

12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest is a 2006 Romanian film directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, released in 2006 and winner of the Camera d'Or Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also released in the United States under the abridged titles East of Bucharest and 12:08 Bucharest...

' onMouseout='HidePop("82178")' href="/topics/Cinema_of_Romania">Romania
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...

, 2006
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...

), directed by Corneliu Porumboiu
Corneliu Porumboiu
Corneliu Porumboiu is a Romanian film director and screenwriter. His 2006 feature 12:08 East of Bucharest won him the Camera d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival...
Chicha tu madre
Chicha tu madre
Chicha tu madre is a 2006 Argentine and Peruvian drama film directed by Gianfranco Quattrini. It was filmed in Lima, Peru."Chicha" as used in Peru.- Cast :*Jesús Aranda ... Julio César*Tula Rodríguez ... Katlyn*Pablo Brichta ... Fabián...

(Peru
Cinema of Peru
While the Peruvian film industry has not been nearly as prolific as that of some other Latin American countries, such as Mexico or Argentina, some Peruvian movies produced enjoyed regional success. The first Peruvian sound film was Alberto Santana's Resaca, which was released in 1934...

/Argentina
Cinema of Argentina
The cinema of Argentina has a tradition dating back to the late nineteenth century, and continues to play a role in the culture of Argentina....

, 2006), directed by Gianfranco Quattrini
Climates
Iklimler
Climates is a 2006 Turkish drama film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The film charts the decline and possibility of renewal of the relationship of a professional Istanbul couple, İsa and Bahar, played by Ceylan and his wife Ebru Ceylan. It was Ceylan's first film shot on High-definition...

(Turkey
Cinema of Turkey
Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....

, 2006), directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Nuri Bilge Ceylan is a Turkish photographer and film director. He is married to the filmmaker, photographer, and actress Ebru Ceylan, his co-star in İklimler .-Life:Ceylan learned photography at age 15, and developed an interest in film at 22....
Close to Home
Close to Home (film)
Close to Home is a 2005 Israeli movie. It is the first film about the experience of women soldiers in the Israeli army.Smadar and Mirit , both 18 years old, are assigned to patrol the streets of Jerusalem together as part of their military service...

(Israel, 2005
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...

), directed by Dalia Hager and Vidi Bilu
Vidi Bilu
Vidi Bilu is an Israeli film director.- Biography :Vidi Bilu was born in Jerusalem in 1959. She studied between 1983 and 1985 at the photography department of Hadassah College. She began to study cinema in 1986, at the School of Beit Zvi, and specialised in direction in 1989...
Isabella (Hong Kong
Cinema of Hong Kong
The cinema of Hong Kong is one of the three major threads in the history of Chinese language cinema, alongside the cinema of China, and the cinema of Taiwan...

, 2006), directed by Pang Ho-Cheung
Pang Ho-Cheung
Edmond Pang Ho-Cheung is a Hong Kong novelist, playwright, actor and filmmaker.-Biography:Pang was born in Hong Kong in 1973. At the age of 15, he started using a video camera to direct short films with his elder brother....
Ode to Joy (Poland
Cinema of Poland
The history of cinema in Poland is almost as long as history of cinematography, and it has universal achievements, even though Polish movies tend to be less commercially available than movies from several other European nations....

, 2005), directed by Anna Kazejak-Dawid, Jan Komasa and Maciej Migas
Seeds of Doubt (Germany
Cinema of Germany
Cinema in Germany can be traced back to the late 19th century. German cinema has made major technical and artistic contributions to film.Unlike any other national cinemas, which developed in the context of relatively continuous and stable political systems, Germany witnesses major changes to its...

, 2005), directed by Samir Nasr
The Right of the Weakest (Belgium
Cinema of Belgium
Belgium is essentially a bi-lingual country divided into the Flemish north and the French-speaking south. There is also a small community of German speakers in the border region with Germany...

, 2006), directed by Lucas Belvaux
Lucas Belvaux
Lucas Belvaux is a Belgian actor and film director. His directing credits include the Trilogie, consisting of three films with interlocking stories and characters, each of which was filmed in a different genre. The three films are Cavale, a thriller; Un couple épatant, a comedy; and Après la vie,...

Awards

Best Feature: Isabella
Best Cinematography: Climates
Iklimler
Climates is a 2006 Turkish drama film directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. The film charts the decline and possibility of renewal of the relationship of a professional Istanbul couple, İsa and Bahar, played by Ceylan and his wife Ebru Ceylan. It was Ceylan's first film shot on High-definition...
Best Script: Seeds of Doubt
Jury’s Prize: 12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest
12:08 East of Bucharest is a 2006 Romanian film directed by Corneliu Porumboiu, released in 2006 and winner of the Camera d'Or Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It was also released in the United States under the abridged titles East of Bucharest and 12:08 Bucharest...
People's Choice Award: The Banquet (China
Cinema of China
The Chinese-language cinema has three distinct historical threads: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of China, and Cinema of Taiwan. Since 1949 the cinema of mainland China has operated under restrictions imposed by the Communist Party of China's State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television and...

, 2006
2006 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...

), directed by Feng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang
Feng Xiaogang , in is a Chinese film director. He is famous in China as being perhaps the most successful "commercialized" filmmaker whose comedy films do consistently well in the box office, although Feng has attempted to break out from that mold by making drama or period drama films...

5th World Film Festival of Bangkok (2007)

The 5th World Film Festival of Bangkok was held from October 25 to November 4 at the Esplanade Cineplex

The Esplanade (Bangkok)

. The opening film was Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea

Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea

is a 2007 Japanese - Mongolian historical drama film depicting the life of Genghis Khan.-Cast:*Takashi Sorimachi as Temüjin/Genghis Khan*Rei Kikukawa as Börte*Mayumi Wakamura as Hoelun*Kenichi Matsuyama as Jochi*Yoshihiko Hakamada as Hasar*Go Ara as Khulan...

, a Japanese-Mongolian co-production directed by Shinichirô Sawai

Shinichirō Sawai

is a Japanese film director and screenwriter.-Career:Born in Hamamatsu, Sawai studied German at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Graduating in 1961, he joined the Toei Company as an assistant director and worked under such directors as Masahiro Makino and Noribumi Suzuki. He also collaborated...

, who was present for the screening. The closing film was Secret

Secret (2007 film)

Secret , is a 2007 Taiwanese romance film. It is the directorial debut feature film of Taiwanese musician Jay Chou, who also stars as the male lead and co-wrote the movie.The Secret Original Soundtrack was released by JVR Music on 13 August 2007....

directed by and starring Jay Chou

Jay Chou

Jay Chou is a Taiwanese musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer, actor and director who has won the World Music Award four times. In 1998 he was discovered in a talent contest where he displayed his piano and song-writing skills. Over the next two years, he was hired to compose for...

.

A tribute section featured the films of Taiwanese actress, director, screenwriter and producer Sylvia Chang

Sylvia Chang

Sylvia Chang is a Taiwanese actress, writer, singer, producer and director. In 1992, she was a member of the jury at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.- Actress :...

, who was present for the festival, and a retrospective was on the films of Percy Adlon

Percy Adlon

Percy Adlon is a German film and television director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his film Bagdad Café aka Out of Rosenheim.-Biography:...

. The annual European Union Film Festival, organized by the European Commission in Thailand since 1990, joined the World Film Festival with its own program.

Harvest of Talents competition

Jury members were German cinematographer-director Fred Kelemen

Fred Kelemen

Fred Kelemen is a European film director, cinematographer and writer. The late Susan Sontag helped to promote Kelemen's work in the mid-1990s, comparing it to the likes of Alexander Sokurov, Béla Tarr and Sharunas Bartas...

, Thai director Ittisoontorn Vichailak, Bangkok-based Danish painter Elizabeth Romhild, Thai critic Niwat Kongpian and Kulthep Narula, executive director of Benetone Film Company.

Films

4 Elements (Netherlands
Cinema of the Netherlands
Because the Dutch film industry is relatively small, and there is little or no international market for Dutch films, almost all films rely on state funding. This funding can be achieved through several sources, for instance through the Dutch Film Fund or the Dutch public broadcast networks...

, 2006), directed by Jiska Rickels
881
881 (film)
881 is a 2007 Singaporean musical-comedy-drama film written and directed by Royston Tan, based on the Singapore Getai scene. It is only the second Singaporean film that has been released in Japan....

(Singapore
Cinema of Singapore
Despite having a flourishing Chinese and Malay film industry in the 1950s and 1960s, Singapore's film industry declined after independence in 1965. There were a few films that featured Singaporean actors and were set in Singapore, including Saint Jack and They Call Her Cleopatra Wong...

, 2007), directed by Royston Tan
Royston Tan
Royston Tan is a Singaporean filmmaker.Tan is a graduate from Temasek Polytechnic, where he took a course in Visual Communication. He first came into prominence through his short films: Sons , Hock Hiap Leong , 48 on AIDS , Mother and 15...
The Band's Visit
The Band's Visit
The Band's Visit is an acclaimed 2007 Israeli film directed by Eran Kolirin.The Band's Visit was Israel's original Foreign Language Film submission for the 80th Academy Awards, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it contained over 50% English dialogue...

(Israel
Cinema of Israel
Cinema of Israel refers to movie production in Israel since its founding in 1948. Most Israeli films are produced in Hebrew. Israel has been nominated for more Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film than any other country in the Middle East....

/France
Cinema of France
The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...

, 2007), directed by Eran Kolirin
Eran Kolirin
Eran Kolirin is an Israeli screenwriter and film director.His directorial debut and as of 2008 his only feature-length film is The Band's Visit . The film was a critical success, winning eight Awards of the Israeli Film Academy and prizes at several international film festivals...
Egg
Egg (2007 film)
Egg is an award-winning 2007 Turkish-Greek drama film directed by Semih Kaplanoğlu. The film is the first instalment of the Yusuf Trilogy, named after the eponymous lead character of the series, which includes Milk and Honey, filmed and released in reverse chronological order...

(Turkey
Cinema of Turkey
Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....

, 2007), directed by Semih Kaplanoğlu
Semih Kaplanoglu
Semih Kaplanoğlu is a Turkish playwright, film director and producer.-Career:He graduated from the Cinema and Television Section of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Dokuz Eylül University in his hometown...
Help Me Eros
Help Me Eros
Help Me, Eros is the second film from director Lee Kang-sheng, following his directorial debut in 2003, The Missing....

(Taiwan
Cinema of Taiwan
The history of Chinese-language cinema has three separate threads of development: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of Mainland China and Cinema of Taiwan . Taiwanese cinema grew up outside of the Hong Kong mainstream and the censorship of the People's Republic of China.Taiwanese cinema is deeply rooted...

, 2007), directed by Lee Kang-sheng
Lee Kang-sheng
Lee Kang-sheng is a Taiwanese actor, film director, and screenwriter. He has appeared in all of Tsai Ming-liang's feature films. Lee's directorial efforts include The Missing in 2003 and Help Me Eros in 2007.-Career:...
Import Export
Import Export
Import Export is an Austrian film by the director Ulrich Seidl from 2007. It was nominated to the Palme d'Or in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix - Golden Apricot reward in Yerevan International Film Festival. The film was shot in Vienna, Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic and...

(Austria
Cinema of Austria
Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...

, 2006), directed by Ulrich Seidl
Ulrich Seidl
Ulrich Seidl is an Austrian film director, writer and producer.-Selected filmography:* 1990 Good News* 1992 Loss Is to Be Expected * 1995 Animal Love ...
Love Songs
Love Songs (film)
Love Songs is a 2007 French musical film directed by Christophe Honoré, starring Louis Garrel, Ludivine Sagnier and Chiara Mastroianni. It was one of the 20 films selected for the main competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...

(France, 2007), directed by Christophe Honore
Christophe Honoré
Christophe Honoré is a French writer and film director born in Carhaix, Finistère in 1970.After moving to Paris in 1995, he wrote articles in "Les Cahiers du Cinéma." He started writing soon-after. His 1996 book Tout contre Léo talks about HIV and is aimed at young adults; he made it into a movie...
Phantom Love (United States
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

, 2007), directed by Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes is a woman filmmaker who has completed six feature films in which she controlled all aspects of production, including directing, writing, shooting, as well as editing picture and sound on her own productions. She has worked in various media including Super-8, 16mm, 35mm and lately HD...
Possible Lives (Argentina
Cinema of Argentina
The cinema of Argentina has a tradition dating back to the late nineteenth century, and continues to play a role in the culture of Argentina....

, 2006), directed by Sandra Gugliotta
Sandra Gugliotta
Sandra Gugliotta is an Argentine film director, screenplay writer, and producer.According to film critic Joel Poblete, who writes for Mabuse, a cinema magazine, Sandra Gugliotta is one of the members of the so-called "New Argentina Cinema" which began c...
Tokyo Tower – Mom & Me, and Sometimes Dad (Japan
Cinema of Japan
The has a history that spans more than 100 years. Japan has one of the oldest and largest film industries in the world – as of 2009 the fourth largest by number of feature films produced. Movies have been produced in Japan since 1897, when the first foreign cameramen arrived...

, 2007), directed by Joji Matsuoka
Joji Matsuoka
is a Japanese film director. After studying filmmaking in the College of Art at Nihon University, he won an award for his independent short Inaka no hōsoku at the Pia Film Festival in 1984. He directed his first commercial feature, Bataashi kingyo, in 1990 and received a number of awards for best...

Awards

Jurors altered the awards selection, omitted the best script award, and changing the name of the artistic direction award to "artistic achievement". Additionally, the "People's Choice" award for film with best attendance was discontinued.

Best film: Import Export
Import Export
Import Export is an Austrian film by the director Ulrich Seidl from 2007. It was nominated to the Palme d'Or in the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix - Golden Apricot reward in Yerevan International Film Festival. The film was shot in Vienna, Ukraine, Romania, the Czech Republic and...

(Austria
Cinema of Austria
Austria has had an active cinema industry since the early 20th century. Sascha Kolowrat-Krakowsky was among the Austrian pioneers of this art. Several Austrians pursued a career in pre-Nazi Germany and later in the United States, among them Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, Billy Wilder, Fred...

, 2006), directed by Ulrich Seidl
Ulrich Seidl
Ulrich Seidl is an Austrian film director, writer and producer.-Selected filmography:* 1990 Good News* 1992 Loss Is to Be Expected * 1995 Animal Love ...
Best artistic achievement: Phantom Love (United States
Cinema of the United States
The cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...

, 2007), directed by Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes
Nina Menkes is a woman filmmaker who has completed six feature films in which she controlled all aspects of production, including directing, writing, shooting, as well as editing picture and sound on her own productions. She has worked in various media including Super-8, 16mm, 35mm and lately HD...
Best director: Semih Kaplanoğlu
Semih Kaplanoglu
Semih Kaplanoğlu is a Turkish playwright, film director and producer.-Career:He graduated from the Cinema and Television Section of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Dokuz Eylül University in his hometown...

, director of Egg
Egg (2007 film)
Egg is an award-winning 2007 Turkish-Greek drama film directed by Semih Kaplanoğlu. The film is the first instalment of the Yusuf Trilogy, named after the eponymous lead character of the series, which includes Milk and Honey, filmed and released in reverse chronological order...

(Turkey
Cinema of Turkey
Turkish cinema is an important part of Turkish culture, and has flourished over the years, delivering entertainment to audiences in Turkey, expatriates across Europe, and in rare cases, the USA....

, 2007)
Special jury awards:
- Help Me Eros
  Help Me Eros
  Help Me, Eros is the second film from director Lee Kang-sheng, following his directorial debut in 2003, The Missing....
  
  (Taiwan
  Cinema of Taiwan
  The history of Chinese-language cinema has three separate threads of development: Cinema of Hong Kong, Cinema of Mainland China and Cinema of Taiwan . Taiwanese cinema grew up outside of the Hong Kong mainstream and the censorship of the People's Republic of China.Taiwanese cinema is deeply rooted...
  
  , 2007), directed by Lee Kang-sheng
  Lee Kang-sheng
  Lee Kang-sheng is a Taiwanese actor, film director, and screenwriter. He has appeared in all of Tsai Ming-liang's feature films. Lee's directorial efforts include The Missing in 2003 and Help Me Eros in 2007.-Career:...
- The Band's Visit
  The Band's Visit
  The Band's Visit is an acclaimed 2007 Israeli film directed by Eran Kolirin.The Band's Visit was Israel's original Foreign Language Film submission for the 80th Academy Awards, but was rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences because it contained over 50% English dialogue...
  
  (Israel
  Cinema of Israel
  Cinema of Israel refers to movie production in Israel since its founding in 1948. Most Israeli films are produced in Hebrew. Israel has been nominated for more Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film than any other country in the Middle East....
  
  /France
  Cinema of France
  The Cinema of France comprises the art of film and creative movies made within the nation of France or by French filmmakers abroad.France is the birthplace of cinema and was responsible for many of its early significant contributions. Several important cinematic movements, including the Nouvelle...
  
  , 2007), directed by Eran Kolirin
  Eran Kolirin
  Eran Kolirin is an Israeli screenwriter and film director.His directorial debut and as of 2008 his only feature-length film is The Band's Visit . The film was a critical success, winning eight Awards of the Israeli Film Academy and prizes at several international film festivals...
Lotus Award: Euthana Mukdasanit
Euthana Mukdasanit
Euthana Mukdasanit is a Thai film director and screenwriter. As a contemporary of Chatrichalerm Yukol, Euthana was among a group of directors that during the 1970s made films that focused on social problems...

6th World Film Festival of Bangkok (2008)

Held from October 24 to November 1, 2008, the festival's theme was "No Movies, No Life" and it was held at Siam Paragon

Siam Paragon

. The opening film was the romantic drama A Moment in June, which had been the first film selected from the Produire Au Sud Bangkok workshop. Martin Scorsese

Martin Scorsese

's Shine a Light

Shine a Light (film)

was the closing film, shown outdoors in a rock concert

Rock concert

The term rock concert refers to a musical performance in the style of any one of many genres inspired by "rock and roll" music. While a variety of vocal and instrumental styles can constitute a rock concert, this phenomenon is typically characterized by bands playing at least one electric guitar,...

-like setting. Around 80 films were shown, with a retrospective on Derek Jarman

Derek Jarman

Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...

, a tribute to Héctor Babenco

Hector Babenco

Héctor Eduardo Babenco is an Argentine-born Brazilian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor.He has worked in several countries including Argentina, Brazil and the United States....

and sections for World Cinema, Asian Contemporary, Documentary and short films.

Awards

The Harvest of Talents competition was suspended.

Lotus Award:

Shyam Benegal

Shyam Benegal

Thai Short Film Competition

Winner:

Hongsa’s Schoolbag

Director: Supamok Silarak

Runner:

Way to Blue

Director: Supawadee Sriputorn

Juries Award:

Made in Heaven

Director: Amorn Harinnitisuk

Croc

Director: Saravuth Intaraprom

External links

Festival website

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History

Awards

Harvest of Talents competition

Films in competition

Awards

2nd World Film Festival of Bangkok (2004)

Harvest of Talents competition

Films

Awards

3rd World Film Festival of Bangkok (2005)

Harvest of Talents competition

Films

Awards

4th World Film Festival of Bangkok (2006)

Films

Awards

5th World Film Festival of Bangkok (2007)

Harvest of Talents competition

Films

Awards

6th World Film Festival of Bangkok (2008)

Awards

See also

External links