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Published on November 5, 2007

"Surprisingly, we attracted new audiences due to the location, and we still got the old fans to achieve a huge success," said festival organiser Kriengsak Silakong.

The Esplanade Cineplex is located in a residential area with lots of condominiums, so many locals were attracted to the festival. However, many film fans from previous years missed out since the event moved from its previous locations at Siam Paragon and Central World.

Though the theatre attendances have not yet been revealed, deputy festival director Dusit Silakong said numbers were better than previous years for every screening, even during the last two days. He said people were still visiting the festival's information desks to ask for film recommendations.

Films with erotic themes, such as "Help Me Eros", were the most popular.

However, problems with venue management caused some films, such as event highlight "From Book to Film", to be cancelled because a singing contest was scheduled at the same time. Some of the films were also ruined because the venue did not have a standard lens to adjust the picture to fit the screen.

The festival opened on October 24 with more than 80 films over 10 days and boasted special guests like Hong Kong filmmaker Sylvia Chang and Singaporean director Royston Ton. This year the long-running EU Film Festival also made a contribution.

The festival closed with "Secret", the directorial debut of Taiwanese singer-actor Jay Chou.

The Nation