After a long hiatus, the Bangkok International Film Festival (เทศกาลภาพยนตร์นานาชาติกรุงเทพมหานคร 2568) returns this year. The organisers — THACCA, the Thailand Creative Culture Agency — are keen to stress that the event is under completely new management, after the corruption scandal associated with the festival in its previous incarnation. (The festival was originally a glitzy event sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and the head of the TAT received almost $2 million in bribes. She was given a fifty-year jail sentence in 2017.)
This year’s all-new BKKIFF will feature an impressive selection of more than 200 films, though there have been some teething problems. The festival will open tomorrow, though its Facebook page is currently counting down the days to 29th September. Also, at the time of writing — the day before the festival opens — the venues and screening dates for each film have not yet been announced, and the festival’s website hasn’t been updated since last month.
This year’s all-new BKKIFF will feature an impressive selection of more than 200 films, though there have been some teething problems. The festival will open tomorrow, though its Facebook page is currently counting down the days to 29th September. Also, at the time of writing — the day before the festival opens — the venues and screening dates for each film have not yet been announced, and the festival’s website hasn’t been updated since last month.
One of the highlights of the event will be a retrospective of films by Chatrichalerm Yukol, including his groundbreaking social realist drama His Name Is Karn (เขาชื่อกานต์). But again the details have not yet been confirmed: the festival’s website claims that eighteen of his films will be shown, though it lists only thirteen of them, and the event’s Facebook page lists only five of his films. (His Name Is Karn will be shown at Paragon Cineplex on 8th October, and at Major Cineplex’s Sukhumvit branch on 11th October.)
The Thai Film Archive in Salaya will also host a (nine-film) Chatrichalerm retrospective, which will begin and end with screenings of His Name Is Karn. The film will be shown on 27th November, and again on 2nd January next year.
Another director, Wim Wenders, is also the subject of a BKKIFF retrospective, at Lido Connect. The programme includes his classic road movie Kings of the Road (Im Lauf der Zeit), screening on 12th October. But this is the third Wenders retrospective in Thailand since 2016, and it’s been only a year since the previous one.
There will also be chances to catch two recent Thai films: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) and Chookiat Sakveerakul’s Taklee Genesis (ตาคลี เจเนซิส). A Useful Ghost is showing at Major Cineplex’s Sukhumvit branch on 12th October, and Taklee Genesis is at the same venue on 7th and 8th October. BKKIFF screenings will take place at six cinemas in Bangkok, and the festival runs until 15th October.
The Thai Film Archive in Salaya will also host a (nine-film) Chatrichalerm retrospective, which will begin and end with screenings of His Name Is Karn. The film will be shown on 27th November, and again on 2nd January next year.
Another director, Wim Wenders, is also the subject of a BKKIFF retrospective, at Lido Connect. The programme includes his classic road movie Kings of the Road (Im Lauf der Zeit), screening on 12th October. But this is the third Wenders retrospective in Thailand since 2016, and it’s been only a year since the previous one.
There will also be chances to catch two recent Thai films: Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s A Useful Ghost (ผีใช้ได้ค่ะ) and Chookiat Sakveerakul’s Taklee Genesis (ตาคลี เจเนซิส). A Useful Ghost is showing at Major Cineplex’s Sukhumvit branch on 12th October, and Taklee Genesis is at the same venue on 7th and 8th October. BKKIFF screenings will take place at six cinemas in Bangkok, and the festival runs until 15th October.
