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