Thanks for all the great flicks

The curtain came down on the 11th World Film Festival of Bangkok last Sunday after 10 glorious days and more than 60 movies from around the globe. The event, founded by The Nation, closed with a packed screening at CentralWorld’s SF World Cinema for “By the River”, the award-winning entry by Thai newcomer Nontawat Numbenchapol. 

Nonthawat was unable to attend since he was in Amsterdam showing his documentary “Boundary”, which remains banned in Thailand because it deals with the disputed Preah Vihear Temple on the Cambodian border, a politically sensitive issue.

The Bangkok festival’s earlier highlights included workshops for rookie Southeast Asian filmmakers, hosted by the Singapore-based group 13 Little Pictures, with awards sponsored by Technicolor Bangkok.

It was a Singapore film – titled “A Film” – that won the grand prize of US$10,000 (Bt320,000) in the workshop competition. The Thai movie “Sound Experiment” came second to earn its crew $5,000. 

At the closing, festival director Kriangsak “Victor” Silakorn thanked his co-organisers from the Culture Ministry’s Office of Contemporary Art and Culture, SF Corp, Nation Broadcasting Corp and The Nation.

This year’s sponsors included the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Life Insurance, the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau, the Berkeley Hotel Pratunam, Stella Artois and Celebrate Catering. The embassies of Argentina, Australia, France, Israel, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Romania and the US and the Taipei Economic & Cultural Office also contributed, and Hamburger magazine provided media support