Nok Air's quiet, golden coup
Green-tea magnate Tan Passakornatee has done it again, grabbing headlines and having his face pictured nationwide while Olympics silver medallist Kaew Pongprayoon was being welcomed home at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Tan was there to hand over Bt10 million to the champion, toting the cash in a bag like a Mafia courier and passing it on to the champ before the eyes of reporters and fans and the rest of the country tuned in on live TV.
Reactions on the social media were as mixed as ever. While many were happy that the boxing hero was getting an extra reward, others picked on Tan as a clever marketer at best and an opportunist at worst. More diplomatic observers saw only a win-win outcome for both Kaew and Tan.
Far less publicised was the fact that, after watching the Olympic final on TV, Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin tweeted an offer to not only Kaew but all of the Thai Olympians – a year’s worth of free flights on his airline. Patee asked his Twitter friends how he could best contact the athletes.
He soon found out. And our team from London is flying high.
Burma blues
Myanmar’s film industry is going through the same transition Thailand’s did before its big bounce-back. Far fewer people are going to the cinema these days.
"Ticket sales have dropped significantly since year’s end," says a Yangon theatre source. "The cinemas are crowded during most films’ opening week, but hardly anyone goes after that."
Still, the same source notes that, while interest in local films is in decline, more people are going to see foreign movies.
A film director says one of the reasons attendance has dropped is that people are tired of "old" films, often of poor quality. "Most local films have been in theatres for up to two years, so people prefer a concert or videos at home. It will take a while for them to see Myanmar films as worth spending money on again."
On the other hand, thanks to ongoing political reforms, citizens now have far more titles to choose among, and Myanmar could easily become a popular destination for location shooting, with its dramatic, little-seen settings and low costs.
There is also huge potential for foreign co-productions to feed the local market. This could be a boon with the inauguration of the Asean Economic Community in 2015 – or a bust if local filmmakers have to compete with Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and, yes, Thailand.
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