THAILAND: BANKOK'S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL CLOSES WITH PRESENTATION OF FIRST ANNUAL GOLDEN KINNAREE AWARDS

Record ID: 393172

  • Title: THAILAND: BANKOK'S INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL CLOSES WITH PRESENTATION OF FIRST ANNUAL GOLDEN KINNAREE AWARDS
  • Date: 23rd January 2003
  • Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (JANUARY 21, 2003) (REUTERS) MV "GOLDEN KINNAREE" DANCERS WELCOMING GUESTS; MV GUESTS MINGLING (2 SHOTS) MV ARRIVAL OF CANADIAN ACTOR DAVID ALPAY ("ARARAT") MV SEINFELD ACTOR JOHN O'HURLEY AND PARTNER; SLV GUESTS SITTING; SLV PRESENTERS INTRODUCING THE AWARDS (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2003 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVABBU5SXRQUP2WB060XJ2T92X7E
  • Story Text: Bangkok's International Film Festival was brought to a close on Monday with the presentation of the first annual Golden Kinnaree awards in a ceremony that proved a rather stale end to a festival that hopes to become "the Cannes of Asia".
    Pedro Almodovar's Golden Globe winning "Talk to Her"
    claimed Golden Kinnarees for both best picture and best director at the first annual Bangkok International Film Festival awards on Monday.
    Best actor was awarded to Golden Globe nominee Michael Caine for his performance in "The Quiet American", and Finnish film "The Man Without a Past" snapped up the other awards for best actress and best screenplay, rounding off a relatively unadventurous line-up of winners.
    No winners were on hand to receive the five prestigious awards, sending instead representatives from local distribution companies, or in the case of "The Man Without a Past", the Finnish ambassador.
    The five days leading up to the event had been filled with a succession of publicity events.
    On Saturday action star Jean Claude Van Damme presided over a demonstration of Thai boxing and movie stunts, paying tribute to Thailand's blooming action movie industry.
    Van Damme has had a long history working in the country.
    He first came to the country 22 years ago to study Thai boxing, and is planning two projects here for later in the year.
    'N SYNC member Lance Bass told Reuters how much he had enjoyed the stunt show during a celebrity golf tournament held on Sunday to publicise the festival. "I love all that stuff. I love all that stunt work in movies and martial arts, so it was very cool", he said.
    Other participants included fellow 'N Sync member Chris Kirkpatrick, Seinfeld actor John O'Hurley and "The Bold and theBeautiful" actress Kimberlyn Brown.
    The film festival itself, however, was plagued with organisational hiccups, with frequent unannounced changes to the schedule, problems with subtitling and complaints from the public that cinemas were half empty, as seats reserved for non-attending VIPs and sponsors were left unfilled.
    Thai director and festival jury member Sananjit Bangsapan admitted to feeling sceptical about how much the festival would realistically benefit the film industry in Thailand, suggesting that organisers were more concerned about using it to promote tourism.
    "I think they need the profit from tourists and whatsoever.
    They can use the film festival as, what do you say, equipment.
    he told Reuters.
    While organisers emphasised their hopes that Bangkok would come to be the hub of the Asian film industry, the fact that no Asian films were included in the winners suggests that they still have a long way to go.
    Action star Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") showed excitement at being part of festival."You know I always love any excuse to come to Thailand, I'm always here," she told Reuters.
    "It's a good opportunity for me to come, you know to mingle with the people because of the film festival"
    However, she admitted that she hadn't had the opportunity to see any of the movies included in the festival, as she was only in Bangkok for one day.
    Despite the fact that no Thai films were included among the winners, many local industry experts hope that the festival will develop in the future, and that it will bring much needed publicity to the country.
    "The benefit that we earn from the film festival is that we can show Thai films to foreign countries," said Kom Akadej, a member of the National Fillm Association of Thailand.
    It's a chance for foreign countries to get to know all the good things about Thailand. We have our own culture and our own films, that we are confident are just as high quality as others".
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