Lights, action ... let it roll

Published on October 24, 2007

Kriengsak ‘Victor’ Silakong

 The curtain rises tomorrow on what promises to be the most satisfying edition of the World Film Festival of Bangkok to date thanks to a teaming-up with the European Union and a celluloid banquet that encompasses a big-budget collaboration from Mongolia and Japan and new-wave cinema from the Czech Republic.

After five years of organising the event, even festival director Kriengsak "Victor" Silakong seems more relaxed. He talked to The Nation about how the festival has evolved, selecting the films and his recommendations for cinemagoers.

What's happened to the arty side of the festival? This year you're opening with the big-budget epic "Genghis Khan" and closing with "Secret", a high-school romance and the directorial debut of Taiwanese heartthrob Jay Chou. Surely these are both very commercial works.

Yes they are, and they're also the kind of films that audiences enjoy. I used to bring a friend who wasn't film oriented to the festival to watch movies by Krzysztof Kieslowski and Bernardo Bertolucci, and he didn't understand them. But when I invited him to "The Banquet", which opened last year's festival, he loved it.

We had very much the same kind of response when we invited Roman Polanski to open the festival with his film "Oliver".

The opening and closing should have a sense of celebration. It's important to make the audience happy. Once they're happy, they'll be attracted to the festival and we can provide them with the kind of films they'll rarely see in local theatres.

I'm not very celebrity-conscious so I don't know how well known Takeshi Sorimachi [the actor who plays Genghis Khan] is in Thailand. But his star-quality will help draw attention to the festival.

Is there a particular reason why many of the films have lighter themes this year compared to, say, the first year of the festival?

Five years ago, I felt that our festival should have an intellectual bias. I've listened to what audiences have had to say since we launched the festival back in 2003, and the feedback has been both positive and negative. I may personally find some of the movies boring but others think they are witty and entertaining. But if I didn't take what audiences wanted into account, the festival would probably only be screening serious films that a lot of people wouldn't understand.

That doesn't mean that the festival will totally change; the original concept of attempting to present unfamiliar and alternative film still exists. This year, we are paying tribute to Percy Adlon. Few know his films here but we want to introduce them to Thai people.

But again, after five years experience we've learned that commercial doesn't equal bad and some films stay in our minds longer than more intellectual and serious movies.

Thai films are still rarely seen at this festival. Why?

That's not because we don't want them. Unfortunately, there isn't much choice when it comes to Thai films and I don't want to pick up the movies that are showing at every multiplex. Most of the interesting Thai films are already in the Bangkok International Film Festival, so they're hard to get.

That said, this year we have "The Story of Eh Dho Chi", an independent film about Karen people directed by a Karen actor, plus the Thai classic "Peesuea Lae Dokmai" ["Butterfly and Flower"] by Euthana Mukdasanit, to whom we'll be presenting an honorary award.

You've chosen "From Book To Film" as the theme for the short films section. What kind of response did you get?

We used the successful "Tsunami Short Film Project" as the model for creating the shorts competition, as it seems to help develop a focus on the festival. The project has been well-received, but mainly by filmmakers rather than the general public.

How do you see the future of the WFF?

It hasn't grown as quickly as we had hoped, mainly because The Nation lacks partners who truly understand what a film festival means.

That's the classic problem for cultural events in this country - they lack support both from the people and the government.

The problem is we don't raise consciousness in cultural activities at any level. We have 10 million people in Bangkok but only 20,000 ever come to a film festival.

There are people who have enough money to be able to enjoy culture but they ignore it. The government should work hard to make Thais accept cultural activities as something as normal as going shopping. The campaign must show that cultural events are necessary for their life - it's food for their souls. These days, Thai society is raised on TV soaps   and gossip magazines. With such cheap culture in every corner of a house, how can we ever reach something richer?

Parinyaporn Pajee

 The Nation