Destination Thailand

Now in its third year, the Thailand International Film Destination Festival returns to Paragon Cineplex tomorrow for an eight-day run that will see the screening of 10 foreign movies shot in the Kingdom.

“Scenery, Scene, Seen on Screen” is this year’s theme for the festival, which opens with the Asian premiere of “Pernicious”, a supernatural story from the US directed by James Cullen Bressack.

The horror flick tells the story of three girls spending the summer in Thailand, in an old house by the river. Their dream holiday turns into a nightmare when the trio unwittingly unleashes the spirit of a murdered child.

The 2013 British-Australian drama “The Railway Man”, which was released in Thailand last year, is also in the festival together with other films from Europe and Asia that use Thailand as the location.

They include the mellow Japanese crime drama “Pale Moon” about a housewife turned bank employee turned embezzler. The film won the Audience Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival

This year’s festival features more Asian film than ever before, among them the Chinese horror “Last Flight” starring Ed Westwick of TV’s “Gossip Girl” fame.

Twelve potential location destinations, known collectively as the “12 Hidden Gems”, will be showcased at the event and include little known tourist spots in Phetchabun, Loei, Nan and Buri Ram. The attractions will also be the settings for the “Amazing Thailand Film Challenge”, with 36 teams of university students from around the world invited to shoot short films in one of the “12 Gems” and use social media to promote them.

Public participation in the promotion of the “12 Gems” is also invited and anyone wishing to take part can simply take selfies in any of the tourist spots and upload them to Instagram using hashtag #TIFDF2015 or #DOTTHAILAND. The winners will attend the closing ceremony, meet and greet their favourite superstars and also receive a round-trip plane ticket to one of the 12 destinations.

The closing night on February 12 will feature a red carpet event though no information has yet been released on who will be taking part.

Thailand Film Office director Ubolwan Sucharitakul says Thailand earned approximately Bt1.93 billion from foreign shoots last year, slightly down from the Bt2 billion average in previous years and that it is hoped that new destinations will bump up revenues.

 MAKE THE SCENE

  The Thailand International Film Destination Festival runs from tomorrow through February 12 at Paragon Cinemax. Find out more at www.ThailandFilm|Destination.com.