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Published on September 18, 2007

Government-run media company MCOT yesterday announced a collaboration with Nation Channel, sister company of festival organiser The Nation, for the production and telecast of the 30-minute programmes, which will be shown on ModerNine TV (Channel 9) at 11pm every Saturday from September 22 until November 24.

"The World Film Festival features a variety of quality films from around the globe. We would like to bring these films to television audiences," MCOT president Wasant Paileeklee told a press conference at the company's headquarters yesterday.

"We have been hosting the film festival for almost a decade, but this is the first time we are presenting our film festival on television with support from MCOT. We would like to introduce our festival to new audiences who watch television, and also release some films on this medium to help promote our festival," added Adisak Limprungpatanakij, president of Nation Broadcasting.

"This year's festival will feature over 80 feature films, shorts, documentaries and animations that our team selected from international film festivals in Berlin, Venice, Cannes, Hong Kong and Singapore," said Kriangsak Silakorn, the festival director.

The programmes will offer previews of the festival, which will run from October 25 to November 4 at The Esplanade.

Produced by Nation Channel, the programmes will have three topics: "World of Cinema", "World of Filmmakers" and "World of Digital Cinema".

German director Percy Adlon's award-winning film "Bagdad Cafe" (1987) will be one of the highlights on the "World of Cinema" programmes, while new-wave director Nathapon Wongtrinetkul will feature in the "World of Filmmakers" series. Animations by Hayao Miyasaki's Studio Ghibli will be the highlight in the "World of Digital Cinema" series.

Ten of the 80 feature films being shown at the festival will also be aired on Channel MCOT 2 (UBC 27) with original soundtracks and Thai subtitles.

The general public can participate in the festival by entering a competition for short films (10-15 minutes) on the theme "father". Students can compete with short films on theme "from books to celluloid", interpreting this year's SEA Write Award winner Montri Sriyong's book of poetry "Lok Nai Duangta Kapajao".

The winning short films will be telecast on MCOT 2.

Pattarawadee Saengmanee

The Nation