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Published on September 28, 2007

"The fifth festival will be bigger and better. This is the first time the EU has joined us," said festival director Kriengsak "Victor" Silkakong at yesterday's press conference at The Esplanade.

The EU will present 20 of its best films including the Portugal's "The Murmuring Coast".

"Bangkok is now home to a large number of film festivals. By joining the World Film Festival of Bangkok we will create a more comprehensive event allowing for better scheduling and selection for movie lovers," said Ambassador Friedrich Hamburger, head of the Delegation of the European Commission to Thailand.

Making its Southeast Asian premier, the festival will open with the US$20-million epic "Genghis Khan", a Mongolian-Japanese co-production on October 25.

The festival is categorised into seven sections: EU films, World Cinema, Asian Contemporary, Documen-taries, Short Films, Retro-spective and The Tribute.

Among the highlights are the Romanian film "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", which recently won at Cannes; Taiwan's film "Help Me Eros" by Lee Kang-sheng; and the Czech film "I Served the King of England" by Jiri Menzel. Retrospective films by German director Percy Adlon and five films in a tribute to Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang will be screened.

Veteran director Euthana Mukdasanit will be honoured with a lifetime achievement "Lotus" award. The festival will be showing his classic 1986 "Peesue Lae Dok Mai" (Butterfly and Flowers).

A special documentary from MacGillivray Freeman Films, "The Alps", will make its Asian premier at the festival on October 26 at Paragon Cineplex. The film follows the true life story of mountaineer and journalist John Harlin III, who sets out on a personal journey that has haunted him since he was nine years old, when his father fell to his death after his rope snapped near the Eiger's summit.

To emphasise the links between literature and cinema, the organisers will introduce a new programme this year, "From Books to Celluloid", featuring dozens of films that have been inspired by or adapted from novels and poetry. These include Euthana's "Butterfly and Flowers", adapted from the classic book by Nipphan, and experimental films by writer Suchart Sawasdsri.

There will be a short films contest on "From Books to Celluloid", in which contestants are invited to interpret "Lok Nai Duangta Kapajao" ("The World Through My Eyes"), a poem by this year's SeaWrite Award winner. The 14 best short films from the competition will be on screened on MCOT 2 from Dec 1-5, 2007.

The Nation