Bangkok film fest celebrates...tourism?

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Bangkok

Among the film industry of Indonesia, a poor neighboring country whose international film festival is struggling with funding and organization, the two-week festival in Bangkok quickly generated envy.

The annual festival held in January was very well organized and very well funded by that government, in this case the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).

While its budget was discreet, it was large enough to enable the organizers to hire a group of professional festival film managers from California to arrange the event.

The venues selected to host the festival were sophisticated and large, with an 100,000-seat capacity. The 180 movies screened were relatively new releases and covered a wonderful, broad range of films. Some 160 journalists from around the globe were flown to Bangkok to cover the event, and the festival could also afford to invite international stars and filmmakers to attend.

Actors in attendance ranged from B-movie actors like Jean Claude Van Damme (apparently, a regular visitor to Bangkok), to Oscar winner Michael Douglas, character actor Jeremy Irons, lady of a thousand masks Miranda Richardson, and up and coming actors Lucy Punch and Gerard Butler.

The audience also got to meet and sometimes enter into discussion with top-notch filmmakers such as Wong Karwai, Olivier Assayas, Joel Schumacher and Oliver Stone.

Certainly, the Thai government wanted the film festival -- its third -- to be a world-class event, the Cannes of Asia.

However, something important was missing at the festival: The permeating aura of cinematic experience, the rabid enthusiasm of film buffs and interaction between filmmakers.

We got all that at the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest), despite all its shortcomings as to venues and technicalities.

At the Bangkok International Film Festival, however, one could not avoid the impression that it was aimed at luring more tourists and buyers to the country than celebrating the world of cinema.

The parties and award ceremony were also too formal and too touristy, overwhelmed by cultural performances and exhibitions.

"I feel more like I'm at a government ceremony than at a film festival," said Indonesian documentarian Lexy Rambadetta at the Golden Kinaree Awards.

Aside from giving them to rising filmmakers, the awards were handed to virtually every international filmmaker who managed to come to the festival.

Joel Schumacher, for instance, received the lifetime achievement award, even though his last few films, including the Phantom of the Opera, were flops and received lukewarm critique.

Local Thai filmmakers appeared not to be very amused with the festival arrangements, either.

"The government is more interested in tourism. They're interested in holding a festival. But the point is, you can host the most amazing festival, but you need to have products," said director/producer Mona Nahm, whose latest work The Remaker was screened at the festival.

The problem with the government, she said, was that they are more interested in luring foreign filmmakers to shoot films and undertake post-production in Thailand than honing and funding local talents.

Thailand has at least four post-production companies working on projects from other countries, including Indonesia, and a vast tract of land has been provided as a shooting location.

Local filmmakers, however, continue to struggle to obtain funding, and if their films make it to the silver screen, the cinemas give only three days to test the film. The screening period will be extended if there are enough viewers, but if not, the film's out. Thus, the theaters are filled only with blockbusters.

"There are about 1,200 theaters all over the country, with a ticket price of around US$2.40. We hardly get anything from the screening," said director Sananjit Bangsaphan of Hit Man File.

With the addition of Hollywood's stranglehold on Thailand's cinemas and the exorbitant tax for film material, the situation has degraded the Thai film industry's morale.

"The past two years show a good trend, however. In 2003, 150 films came out, with everyone making films all over, but the quality dropped. There were only a few good ones that made money at the theaters. The rest went straight to video," said Nahm.

"In the past year, 50 films were released, but were so much better in quality."

It could be said that generally, Thai films are more advanced and enjoyable than, say, most Indonesian films. Their horror movies are incredibly scary, such as The Shutter, while comedies like Iron Ladies are hilarious and twisted, and art-house films are still enjoyable and unpretentious, like Last Life in Universe.

Yet, these films are still struggling to find a niche in local cinemas.

The other concern for local filmmakers is the "talent drain" of good crews from the industry, as they prefer to work with foreign filmmakers shooting in Thailand at better pay.

"...Thais can't pay each other well because we don't have much money. The crew and labor become expensive. (So) We end up making films for the local market only. There's no guarantee that we can sell (our films) to foreigners. When people find out we only sell in Thailand, they invest less money. Investing less money means we make less money," said Adirek Wattaleela, producer of Bangkok Dangerous and 2001 Cannes nominee for Tears of the Black Tiger.

Therefore, said Wattaleela, the Bangkok International Film Festival was only suitable for TAT's tourism aims, and does not do much for the local film industry.

Local filmmakers also objected to the recruitment of foreigners to organize the event.

Festival executive director Craig Prater was very careful in his response on this issue: "I'm sure the TAT wants to make sure this festival has a high quality. We've done this for 20 years. Maybe in the near future they won't need us, which is great. This festival will help local people gain experience."

Meanwhile, director Jira Maligool of Iron Ladies and Mekhong Full Moon Party tried to look for the silver lining, and said the festival was good for educating local viewers.

"The audience get to see films other than the mainstream, and allows foreigners to see ours. Maybe we'll only see the benefits of this festival in the long run, but it's a good start."