BKKIFF Closing Gala

Thai directors panel - Ekachai Uekrongtham, Leo Kittikorn & Yongyoot Thongkongtoon

With no films scheduled for my final day of the festival (the screening of The World's Fastest Indian had already sold out) I began Sunday morning over at the sumptuous Conrad Hotel for a Thai directors panel moderated by Kong Rithdee, the Bangkok Post film critic. The three directors in attendance to talk about their current projects and Thai cinema in general were Ekachai Uekrongtham (Beautiful Boxer), Leo Kittikorn (Ahimsa: Stop To Run) and Yongyoot Thongkongtoon (The Iron Ladies). Yongyoot talked about his upcoming romantic comedy Metrosexuals, whilst Leo discussed his experience working as 2nd director on King Naresuan, the biggest production in Thailand which has been filming for two years and is still not finished! Meanwhile Ekachai is in pre-production on a horror film entitled The Coffin which should begin shooting in June. It's due to a feature local, Japanese and Chinese cast and - perhaps thinking of the international market - the dialogue will be predominantly in English:

"It's a supernatural thriller inspired by a ritual in Thailand: to get rid of bad luck, extend your lifespan or meet someone who has passed away you sleep in a coffin. It's a very controversial ritual which is gaining popularity. Last year more than 10,000 people in the North East of Thailand went to a ceremony where they could lie in a coffin and be blessed by the monks. Yes, it is a ghost film, there will be quite a number of them, but it won't be a slasher film... it's more like The Sixth Sense. I pick themes I like to address and I wanted to try and deal with issues surrounding death. My father died two years ago and I had a problem dealing with that, so I used that as my creative springboard."

After watching a number of trailers for their respective films the discussion then moved on to the state of the Thai movie industry today and a lively debate on the pros and cons of the BKKIFF - and in particular the disregard for the local audience in that nearly all films screened in competition have had no Thai subtitles, and the poor communication between the festival organisers and local filmmakers. These are just two issues which we all hope will be addressed in time for next year's event.

BKKIFF Closing Ceremony

I'd got chatting to an Aussie actor called Adam at the panel so when that event finished we headed over to the Siam Paragon together and spent much of the afternoon sat in the Jameson's bar. The Closing Gala began at 6pm with guests arriving along the red carpet, but it was a much less lavish affair than the Opening Gala and it seemed to be mainly industry and festival delegates rather than lots of celebrities - although I did spot Willem Dafoe, Roger Donaldson and the ubiquotous Rufus Sewell over the course of the evening.

Tracie Thoms & Wilson Jermaine Heredia

The closing night film was Rent, directed by Christopher Columbus (which I neglected to see) and a couple of the film's stars, Wilson Jermaine Heredia and Tracie Thoms, were present to talk about the production - though I was sad to note the non-appearance of Rosario Dawson who'd also been mooted to attend.

Clare & me

After the closing ceremony and speeches Clare and I hung around the reception taking advantage of the free bar until things finally started winding down at around 9pm. Much to our dismay there was no after-show party (or so we'd been told) so instead we headed off to Penny Black on Soi Cowboy and spent the remainder of the evening continuing our drinking and playing a few games of pool in there.

BKKIFF Day 9 - Saturday

Ultrascreen 1

I was determined to get into the morning screening of The Intruder at Ultrascreen 1, despite being told it was sold out, so I just turned up and said I'd wait and see if there were any spare seats once the film had started. As it happened I was allowed to walk into the cinema, help myself to a chair and just sit at the top of the aisle without being asked to leave - cool. The film was a Belgian thriller which held the attention while never quite being quite as riveting as the similarly themed Murk earlier in the festival. I had just enough time before my next film to grab a cocktail in the Jameson's bar with CJ, an American journalist, and then headed back to the cinema ready for Lars Von Trier's Manderlay. As it happened I was sat on the front row next to Claire - ideally placed for the Q&A with Willem Dafoe afterwards, but not so great for actually watching the 140 minute film. Then they announced that the Q&A would take place in the main hall rather than the cinema which rather negated the advantage of having front seats, so in the end Claire and I decided to abandon the film altogether and just attend the Q&A later!

Dianne Ladd & Roger Donaldson

We wandered back through the main hall just as the press conference for The World's Fastest Indian was finishing, with actress Dianne Ladd and director Roger Donaldson in attendance. Back in the Jameson's bar we took full advantage of their hospitality until we were joined by a couple of real 'characters' Jake and Antonio...

Nicholas Snow interviews Willem Dafoe

No-one seemed to know exactly where / when the Willem Dafoe event was going to be (communication to the festival staff has been an issue all week) but when we spotted the actor sat in the main hall we knew we were in the right place and we managed to grab front row seats before the rest of the audience spilled out of the Manderlay screening. The interview chaired by Nicholas Snow was the most entertaining one of this year's special events with Willem Dafoe looking completely relaxed and open to talk about all aspects of his career in films and acting.

Willem Dafoe

Having decided not to struggle through a non-subtitled screening of The Duelist I had a free evening ahead of me, so I ventured to The Londoner bar on Sukhumvit Soi 33 where I met up for a pint with Paul Spurrier. He's been invited to give a private screening of P to the head of Sahamongkol Films (the biggest film company in Thailand) on Monday evening so Paul is going to ask whether he can bring any friends along with him, as I'd love to see the film again.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - The Intruder

www.deindringer.be


Dir: Frank Van Mechelen


Cast: Koen De Bouw, Els Dottermans, Filip Peeters, Alex Daeseleire


Daughter is missing

conspiracy in a small town

hunter has answers


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Day 8 - Friday

Selection of synopses from the BFM

The longer the festival goes on the harder it is getting to obtain tickets for screenings as the Box Office don't seem to be retaining an allocation of seats for members of the press (as they're supposed to), bearing in mind we can only reserve our tickets one day in advance. Very frustrating! I really wanted to catch tomorrow's showing of The Intruder but it looks like I'm just going to have to turn up and hope there's some empty seats. I was also annoyed to discover that the second screening of The Duelist was also going to be a dubbed print without subtitles, so that's tomorrow night's viewing scrapped for me. I spent the remainder of the morning taking my final look around the BFM and I stopped for a chat with Tom Waller from De Warrenne Pictures who produced Ghost Of Mae Nak. There's still no deal for that movie in the UK as yet but Tom is hopeful for a DVD release in the near future. For my first film of the day I decided to relax in the luxurious surroundings of Ultrascreen 2 and take a second look at Art Of The Devil 2 and I enjoyed it just as much the second time round - whilst keeping an eye out for any inconsist plotlines now that I knew how the movie was going to end! The film also picked up the Jameson People's Choice Award later in the evening, further recognition for the film's achievement.

Ultrascreen 2

I then took a break from the Siam Paragon and headed over to the MBK shopping centre in search of a new bag as my FrightFest prize advertising The Devil's Rejects had finally fallen to pieces. In the end I settled for a black The Nightmare Before Christmas design which cost me 450 baht (just under seven pounds). I had just enough time left to grab a cocktail in the Jameson's hospitality area, alas they'd closed early as they were looking after the Kinaree Awards over at the Conrad Hotel that evening. Taking a break from the genre / Thai films I'd selected a double-bill of Oscar nominated films to watch which were both pretty good. The better of the two was Transamerica, a sad, funny and moving drama about a pre-op transexual and her son which ought to earn Felicity Huffman the best actress award next month. George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck was another acting showcase and a compelling insight into CBS's stand against Senator McCarthy in the 1950s.

The BKKIFF Kinaree Award winners were announced later in the evening and included:

Best Picture - Water
Best Director - Chan-wook Park (Sympathy For Lady Vengeance)
Best Actor - Presley Chaweneyagae (Tsotsi)
Best Actress - Felicity Huffman (Transamerica)
ASEAN Film - The Bride Of Silence
New Voices - Kept And Dreamless
Best Documentary - Rize
People's Choice Award - Art Of The Devil 2

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Good Night, And Good Luck

www.goodnightandgoodluck.com


Dir: George Clooney


Cast: David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, Jeff Daniels


TV journalist

makes stand against McCarthy

all in black and white


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Transamerica

www.transamerica-movie.com


Dir: Duncan Tucker


Cast: Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zagers, Fionnula Flanagan, Elizabeth Pena


Road trip to LA

pre-op tranny and young lad

she is his father


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Day 7 - Thursday

Black Night photo call

I had an amusing start to the day when I decided to take breakfast at the Coffee World stand up in the festival HQ where I ordered a coffee and waffle. I was the sole customer. I took a seat and the girl brought my coffee over, but ten minutes passed and I was still waffle-less. I caught her eye and the penny dropped, so five minutes later she finally appeared with my waffle - "I'm sorry, I am forgetful," she apologised. You gotta wonder how she'll get on if there's ever a queue of people waiting to order...

My first film of the day was a Danish thriller Murk about a journalist who is investigating the apparent suicide of his sister. A slow but engrossing drama, the plot twisted and turned repeatedly, switching the sympathies of each character... very much in the same vein as other European thrillers like Insomnia, Antibodies or The Vanishing, this was a good - if bleak - start to the day. Having met lead actress Siraphun Wattanajinda on Friday I thought it only fair that I check out her movie, Dear Dakanda. It proved to be a welcome contrast from all the dark thrillers I've seen lately, being a really heart-warming romantic drama and perhaps the best Thai film I've seen throughout the festival.

Black Night directors - Patrick Leung, Thanit Jitnukul & Takahiko Akiyama

Black Night cast - Kajonsak Ratananisai, Nutsha Bootsri, Pitchanart Sakhakorn, Annie Liu & Dylan Kuo

Mid-afternoon saw a press conference for the latest pan-Asian horror compendium Black Night which has just finished post-production and will be released across Asia in April. The film comprises three short stories: Next Door (Hong Kong) directed by Patrick Leung (The Twins Effect II), a story about love, betrayal and tragedy during the July lunar ghost festival, starring Annie Liu, Dylan Kuo and Race Wong; Dark Hole (Japan) directed by Takahiko Akiyama (Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), a story of a young bride-to-be besieged by nightmares whose childhood memories threaten to sabotage her upcoming marriage, starring Asako Seto, Takashi Kashiwabara and Tomorowo Taguchi; The Lost Memory (Thailand) directed by Thanit Jitnukul (Bang Rajan), a story about a single mother and her son whose happiness is threatened by a mysterious stranger, starring Pitchanart Sakhakorn, Kajonsak Ratananisai and Nutsha Bootsri. The producers and directors talked about the genesis of the project but were completely overshadowed by members of the cast who were beseiged by the local media and fans.

Songyos Sugmakanan, director of Dorm

My final film of the day was Dorm, the latest Thai horror production which is released nationwide this coming weekend. I enjoyed the film but was rather puzzled by the marketing campaign which is clearly aimed at a horror audience, when in actual fact the movie is more a coming-of-age drama about friendship which just happens to feature a ghostly character. The director was on hand for a lively Q&A after the screening in which a number of contentious issues were discussed, but overall I think the film was well received - but just not quite what the audience had been led to expect.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Dorm

www.dekhor.com


Dir: Songyos Sugmakanan


Cast: Jintara Sukapat, Suthipongse Thatphithakkul, Nipawan Taweepornsawan, Charlie Trairat

Goes to boarding school

makes friends with a ghostly boy

not horror movie


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Dear Dakanda

www.dakanda.com


Dir: Khomkrit Treewimol


Cast: Sunny Suwanmethanont, Siraphun Wattanajinda, Maneerat Kamouan, Panisara Phimpru

Painter falls off boat

secretly loves his best friend

also fancies nurse


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Murk

www.dfi.dk


Dir: Jannik Johansen


Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Nicolas Bro, Laura Drasbaek, Laerke Winther Andersen


Death on wedding night

is fat beardy guy to blame

or just suicide?


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Day 6 - Wednesday

Thai cinema poster exhibition

I shared a lift with Jennifer Stark, the Programme Director, and her colleagues as I made my way up to the cinema to collect my tickets which was quite amusing as they were insistent that I attend a press screening of Deepak Mehta's Water which was about to take place. But no, I had a horror double-bill to attend, starting off with Art Of The Devil 2 starring my new best friend, Napakpapah Nakprasit. Happily the film avoided the all-too-common Asian ghost stories / Thai comedy-horror sub-genres and instead delivered some balls-nasty images in a teens-in-witchcraft plot. I was then straight into Ghost Of Mae Nak, another Thai horror from a British director (Mark Duffield) which is a modern update of the local Mae Nak legend. It's a film I'd been wanting to see for some time and hopefully I'll be running an interview with the director on Eat My Brains very soon.

Five Star Production at BFM

I'm trying to scout for potential FrightFest movies amongst the BKKIFF programme, so with Art Of The Devil 2 seeming like a possible candidate I scheduled a meeting with Amy, from Five Star Production who are handling the film's distribution. The film opened in December here in Thailand and is now being released across Asia (apparently it is the highest grossing Thai movie ever in Malaysia) but at present it lacks a UK distributor. Amy has promised to mail me a screener copy so hopefully I can get that to Ian, Paul & Alan and see what they think. I then left the Siam Paragon for a couple of hours and wandered around Siam Square, picking up a few cheap DVDs including The Tiger Blade, Sars War and the aforementioned Ghost Of Mae Nak all for three quid each. It was then back to the cinema for my personal favourite of the festival so far - Chan-wook Park's Sympathy For Lady Vengeance. Whilst not quite the masterwork that was Oldboy, it is still an outstanding piece of cinema and I urge you to catch it while it's on UK release if you haven't seen it already. My only niggle was dozing off for a couple of minutes during one of the more important plot developments, but thankfully Clare was on hand to fill me in on what I'd missed afterwards! I blew out a late screening of Stoned in favour of a welcome beer with Clare, and then headed back to the bars of Soi Cowboy for the remainder of the evening.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Sympathy For Lady Vengeance

www.lady-vengeance.com


Dir: Chan-wook Park


Cast: Lee Yeon-ae, Choi Min-sik, Kim Si-hu, Nam Il-woo


Kind-hearted Geum-ja

plans revenge for thirteen years

not so kind-hearted


soulmining rating: *****

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Ghost Of Mae Nak

www.maenak.com


Dir: Mark Duffield


Cast: Pataratida Pacharawirapong, Siwat Chotchaicharin, Pornthip Papanai, Jaran Ngamdee

Boyfriend in coma

thief gets a splitting headache

must return ghost's brooch


soulmining rating: ***

Read my full review of the film on Eat My Brains here.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Art Of The Devil 2

www.longkhong.com


Dir: Ronin Team


Cast: Napakpapah Nakprasit, Namo Tongkamnerd, Hataiwan Ngamsukonpusit, Akarin Siwanponpitak

Fish hooks rip his flesh

teacher gets mean with blow-torch

granny eats the cat


soulmining rating: ****

Read my full review of the film on Eat My Brains here.

BKKIFF Day 5 - Tuesday

Bangkok Film Market

This is where I start to lose track of what day it is as every day seems to be spent in this airconditioned bubble and the only life I see outside is when I'm travelling back to my hotel in the evening. It's less intensive than the four day FrightFest event, but nevertheless there's a choice of seven different films screening at any one time, plus all the press activities and the BFM, so there's always something to be doing.

My first film of the day was Ahimsa: Stop To Run, a Thai comedy-drama which took an inventive look at karma. This was my first experience of Ultrascreen 1, one of the smaller cinemas in the venue; well, I say smaller... the auditorium and screen are the same size, but there's less seats - just six rows of six pairs of luxurious armchairs! In all my years of cinema going that is the most comfortable viewing experience I have ever had. Whats more, I was back in the same seat for my second movie, the Malaysian sports-comedy Goalposts & Lipsticks. I don't think I've ever seen a Malaysian film before but this was really well done and translated well, following the typical format of teen romance / sports movies. The director did a Q&A after the screening and said that the film had done so well that he's now been commissioned to develop a television series based on the movie.

In my break between screenings I discovered that tomorrow's showing of The Duelist is now going to be a Thai-dubbed print without English subtitles, so that caused me to rearrange my schedule somewhat. The rather frustrating thing is that no-one could confirm whether Saturday's screening would be the same print or the original Korean language with subtitles, so I'm just going to have to wait and see on that one. I also had another wander around the BFM where I bumped into Paul Spurrier, and I arranged a meeting with someone from Five Star Production to discuss The Art Of The Devil 2 which judging from its gory trailer could be an ideal candidate for this year's FrightFest event. I'll know more when I actually view the film tomorrow.

Ultrascreen 3

My final film of the day was an Austrian drama You Bet Your Life, obviously influenced by seminal seventies novel The Dice Man. For this screening I was in Ultrascreen 3, another of the luxury screens except this time there were only four rows of twelve seats, all of which reclined and came with their own little tables. I didn't get away from the Siam Paragon until nearly 11pm but the promise of free cocktails at an after-show party proved too tempting to resist, so I made my way over to the Q Bar on Sukhumvit Soi 11 and danced the night away until they closed at 1am.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - You Bet Your Life

www.spieleleben.at


Dir: Antonin Svoboda


Cast: Georg Friedrich, Birgit Minichmayr, Andreas Patton, Gerti Drassi


The German dice man

gambles on love and money

banana blow job


soulmining rating: **

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Goalposts & Lipsticks

www.redfilms.com.my/golgincu


Dir: Bernard Chauly


Cast: Nur Fazura, Sazzy Falak, Ashraf Sinclair, Rafidah Abdullah


She starts futsal team

wants to impress ex-boyfriend

overcomes all odds


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Ahimsa: Stop To Run

www.ahimsastoptorun.com


Dir: Leo Kittikorn


Cast: Boriwat Youto, Teeradanai Suwanahorn, Tharanya Suttabusya, Prinya Ngamwongwarn


My name isn't Earl

his karma wears red tracksuit

foreseen things happen


soulmining rating: ****

BKKIFF Day 4 - Monday

Bangkok Film Market reception

I've decided to sacrifice the late nights in favour of early starts as that seems to be the only way to guarantee tickets for the screenings that I want to see. The box office system of issuing press tickets changed for the third day running but I managed to get what I wanted okay. That done I hooked up with Clare for a coffee as the Bangkok Film Market opened - where we spotted Roger Corman, one of the guest speakers - and then showed Clare where the video screening room is located. This gives you the opportunity to watch some of the festival films - and some other non-festival titles - on DVD at your leisure, should you miss the cinema screenings. We then watched last year's Tribeca winning film, Stolen Life, which was beautifully shot on DV but an ultimately depressing tale of a girl who's screwed over by her devious boyfriend.

I spent the next hour scouting out the BFM where most of the Thai distributors are promoting their slate of films. I had a brief chat with a lady from De Warrenne Pictures, producers of The Ghost Of Mae Nak who told me that the film should be out on DVD now, although I've yet to see it. I also chatted to one of the sales agents from GMM who produced the spooky Shutter, the highest grossing Thai movie of 2004 - and bemoaned their lack of English subtitles on their DVD releases (they're concerned about rampant piracy, apparently). The two directors of Shutter are now working on new horror project entitled Alone about the separation of siamese twins which should be ready to hit the festival circuit in 2007.

Then it was back into the cinema to see the surreal Japanese drama The Buried Forest starring Tadanobu Asano... I was expecting a visual fantasy but ninety minutes later I still had no idea what the film was about. Unfathomable. It was like a watching a dream unravel on the screen. After sitting through that ordeal some alcohol was looking like a very good idea, so I met up with Clare for a few beers and we then discovered the free Jameson's bar - although it's (supposedly) regulated to two thirty minute visits per day! There was also a big reception taking place in the main hall to celebrate the first day of the BFM and to highlight the Thai filmmakers, so we hung around that for a while and took full advantage of the free buffet.



Oliver Stone

My final event of the day was the Masterclass with Oliver Stone, again moderated by Variety's Steven Gados. It was fascinating to hear Oliver Stone talk about his work but sadly I felt that the interview was marred by focussing far too much on his politics rather than his movies. Still, it will be interesting to see what reception his latest film gets when it opens later this year. World Trade Centre stars Nicolas Cage, and covers 24 hours in the lives of the last two surviving firemen who were trapped in the ruins of the building and their respective families. He promises this to be a "human" story and avoids any of the conspiracy theories which surrounded the attack on 9/11.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - The Buried Forest

www.umoregi.info


Dir: Kohei Oguri


Cast: Karen, Hiromitsu Tosaka, Tadanobu Asano, Tokie Hidari


Townsfolk find old logs

girls talk of camel and whale

surreal and plotless


soulmining rating: *

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Stolen Life

www.arclightfilms.com.tw


Dir: Li Shao-hong


Cast: Zhou Xun, Wu Jun, Cain Ming, Su Xiao-ming


Naive college girl

scumbag boyfriend sells baby

buys very sharp knife


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Day 3 - Sunday

The cast of 3 Friends

I wasn't due to be seeing any films until the middle of the afternoon so I took the opportunity to call up Paul Spurrier - director of P - who I knew was currently staying in Bangkok. By chance he was in a taxi minutes away, so he quickly alighted and we met up for lunch. It was really good to catch up on all the latest news surrounding P (it's currently on release in Spain, will be distributed by Anchor Bay in the UK, and may yet be submitted for a theatrical release here in Thailand) and news of his current projects - he's recently been working as DP on a Thai epic with the (English) working title End Of Empire which is currently being edited and he's keen to show me some footage from if it can be arranged while I'm here.

Over at BKKIFF the box office hiccups from the previous day seemed to have been sorted out and there was now a separate desk with pre-printed tickets available for collection. After interrogating one of the staff volunteers over the identity of some of the Thai celebrities who've been attending the festival I then caught my only film of the day, 3 Friends, a docu-drama starring the very lovely Napakpapah Nakprasit who I'd met on Friday night. She and the rest of the cast and crew turned up for a Q&A directly after the screening and I've now discovered that she's also one of the leads in Art Of The Devil 2 which I'm due to see later in the week.



Steven Gados interviews Christopher Lee

After a quick bite to eat it was straight back up to the main hall to listen to a conversation with Christopher Lee. I was due to be seeing a screening of The Man With The Golden Gun directly afterwards, however they'd scheduled a press conference immediately after the interview so I decided I'd much rather stay for that. So what did the great man have to say?

On directors - "My favourite director is Tim Burton and favourite actor, Johnny Depp. The greatest director I've ever worked with, one name stands out - Billy Wilder."

On Hammer films - "Hammer were responsible for me becoming a name and a face. I did 22 films in 18 years, some were very good and became classics, others weren't very good but people still remember them. It was rather like a family. They never paid me anything though; in the first one I was the lead and I got paid five hundred pounds!"

On James Bond - "I've no opinion on Daniel Craig until the film comes out. There's such a lot of rubbish that's been written about him. Pierce Brosnan was by far the best, the closest to the character that Fleming invented."

On The Lord Of The Rings - "The greatest work of fiction. How do I feel about Peter Jackson removing the death scene for Saruman? Inexplicable. How would I compare the two great sagas (Star Wars)? You can't. One happens on earth, albeit middle-earth, the other happens in galactic space."

On Asian films - "Asian films are taking a huge leap forward, there's some brilliant films from some wonderful directors and people in the West are being made aware of these through festivals."

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - 3 Friends

www.dedicate-ltd.com


Dir: Mingmongkol Sonakul


Cast: Napakpapah Nakprasit, Penporn Poonsaem, Jitraporn Panit, Miyauchi Yasuhiko


Photo shoot on beach

meet a man who checks water

real lives or fiction?


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Day 2 - Saturday

Much to my surprise I was alive and awake nice and early the morning after the gala festivities so I managed to get to the Siam Paragon for its 10am opening. It was probably just as well as I was one of the first in line to pick up my Press tickets for the next two days (you can only get tickets one day in advance, subject to availability) and the Box Office clearly hadn't been briefed... honestly, if you thought the glitches at the last FrightFest event were frustrating believe me, it's even more chaotic here! My worry that they were actually issuing hand-written tickets for me rather than consigning a complimentary ticket off their computerised system proved all too real when my seat was double-booked at the Tsotsi screening later that day. I met up with a girl called Claire who runs a cinema in Falkirk as we were queuing and she offered to buy me breakfast so we headed down to the food court on the ground floor of the Paragon - this place is so massive you really never need to leave, except when it's time to go home and sleep!

The main event of the afternoon was the Masterclass with Terry Gilliam. He was a very witty speaker, talking about his Monty Python days, the cult following of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, his experience making Twelve Monkeys, and his unreserved contempt for the Weinstein brothers! Sadly the talk only lasted an hour... but I did manage to get his autograph afterwards. After a quick bite to eat - yes, I actually remembered food - it was off to see the gritty South African ghetto drama Tsotsi, which had a similar kind of feel to City Of God.



By happy coincidence a load of cool bands were playing the Bangkok 100 Rock Festival that night - Oasis, Franz Ferdinand, Ian Brown and dEUS - but tickets were expensive and it meant a journey out to Lakeside so in the end I decided not to bother and I settled for the bars off Sukhumvit Soi 23 to unwind instead.

BKKIFF Movie Haiku - Tsotsi

www.tsotsimovie.com


Dir: Gavin Hood


Cast: Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Kenneth Nkosi, Mothusi Magano


Bad boy stabs on train

tries to look after baby

newspaper diapers


soulmining rating: ***

BKKIFF Opening Gala

Welcome to BKKIFF

My flight to Bangkok on Thursday got cancelled but I managed to get on another airline and eventually arrived in the city around 6:30pm, giving me just enough time to register at the BKKIFF HQ over at the Siam Paragon. Disorganised chaos awaited me... but I got my Press pass, that's the important thing!

Invisible Waves was the opening night film on Friday which I'd been told was an invite only affair, but after making some inquiries I managed to get into a special press screening in the afternoon. Sorted! The added bonus of catching the press screening was that I also caught a briefing about the Opening Gala, so I discovered we had access to the arrivals on the red carpet from 6pm onwards...

The Red Carpet

The invited guests and celebrities were escorted along the red carpet to the venue stopping for photos and interviews with the local media along the way. Needless to say I didn't know who the majority of the Thai guests were but still...

(Update - the lady immediately below on the left is Supaksorn Chaimongkol from Dangerous Flowers and the two gentlemen in the third photo are The Tin Mine's lead actor Pijaya Vachajitpan and director Jira Maligool)







The Invisible Waves party were amongst the early arrivals, with director Pen-ek Ratanaruang leading the way alongside actors Tadanobu Asano and Toon Hiranyasup with cinematographer Christopher Doyle and screenwriter Prabda Yoon.



Tadanobu Asano & Pen-ek Ratanaruang arrive



Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Christopher Doyle & Tadanobu Asano

The Gala Reception

Once most of the guests had arrived we were able to go up to the Gala reception for the opening ceremony and speeches.



The Invisible Waves team



Pen-ek Ratanaruang being interviewed for local TV

Whilst some guests disappeared for the film screening, others just hung around for the reception. It was a very informal affair and I was free to mingle - and take advantage of the free bar - as I liked...



Rufus Sewell



Terry Gilliam & Fred Schepisi

And of course I had to take the opportunity to chat to a couple of pretty ladies including Napakpapah Nakprasit, the lead actress from Maebia, Butterfly Man and 3 Friends and Siraphan Wattanajinda, the lead actress from Dear Dakanda.



Me & Napakpapah Nakprasit



Siraphan Wattanajinda & me

The After Show Party

I bumped into Joe Cummings, the Lonely Planet author, who happens to be good friends of Rudi & Albert up in Chiang Mai, so I got chatting to him for a long while and he tipped me off about the after show party taking place at the Bed Supper Club on Sukhumvit Soi 11.



The Bed Supper Club

I wasn't sure if it was another 'invite only' event but thought I may as well try and blag my way in anyway... and one quick flash of my Press pass quickly did the business!



Relaxing inside the Bed Supper Club

I got myself a beer and headed up to the balcony level in the chill-out area for a while. The club is split into two halves, with a dancefloor on the right hand side and a chill-out room on the left hand side - with two levels of beds lining each side and a bar area in the middle. Pretty cool!



Tadanobu Asano at the Bed Supper Club

It soon filled up with guests so I took the opportunity to wander around and managed to grab chats with Rufus Sewell, Tadanobu Asano and Pen-ek Ratanaruang before stumbling back to my hotel at around 1am.