Oscar-winning poster designer Rafal Olbinski, left, World Film Festival director Kriengsak Silakong and Polish Ambassador Bogdan Goralczyk, right, open the festival at Siam Paragon.

Joining the opening were foreign guests, actors and actresses, film enthusiasts, film-makers, diplomats, business people, and the media. To name just a few, the guest turnout included Bogdan Goralczyk, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland, Rafal Olbinski, poster designer and juror from Poland, Andi Huber, producer of "My Name is Eugen" from Switzerland, Tim Grohen, producer of "Paris, I Love You" from the United Kingdom, Dr Titus Leber, juror from Austria, Shane Bunnag, director of "All For Nothing" from Thailand, Abhijit Guha, director of "Tale of Three Friends" from India, Emily Eavis, Glastonbury Festival co-director from the UK, Thai actress Nakaprapa Nakprasith and film-maker Araya Sirisoda.  

Concurrently, an exhibition of posters created by Polish Oscar-winning artist Olbinski was opened yesterday at the Siam Paragon Hall. His illustrations have appeared on the covers of reputed publications such as Newsweek, Time, Business Week, Playboy, The New York Times, The New Yorker and Der Spiegel.

Polish Ambassador Goralczyk said: "Poland has three treasures in cinematography - Krzysztof Kie-slowski, Roman Polanski and

Olbinski. And we present their works at this festival."

Describing the 13-day festival as a low-key yet quality-packed film event, festival director Kriengsak Silakong said the absence of famous stars from the red carpet did not make the festival less attractive.

The festival offers more than 70 feature films and documentaries from 32 countries including "Climates", "Ode To Joy". and "The Right of the Weakest". Many of them have been featured prominently at the world's top film festivals in Cannes, Venice, and Toronto.

"This is the first time I'm attending an Asian film festival. It is great that my film has been selected so that Thai people will get a chance to see a Swiss film, and see Switzerland," Huber said.

"I do hope Swiss people will get the chance to see more Thai films as well," Huber added.

For film buffs, the festival offers a chance to see five rare early films by Kieslowski in its retrospective section. The tribute programme features five films by veteran Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, including a new, 219-minute director's cut of "The Last Emperor". As always, the audience will have a rare feast of documentaries and short films.

The fourth World Film Festival is co-organised by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Thai Airways, Major Cineplex and The Nation.

The 4th World Film Festival of Bangkok continues until October 23 at Grand EGV Siam Discovery Centre, Paragon Cineplex and Major Cineplex CentralWorld. Tickets are Bt100 (Bt50 for students with ID cards) and are available at the cinema box offices.  For more details, call 02-3170042 (ext 34478) or visit www.worldfilmfestival.com