After a long hiatus, the Bangkok International Film Festival 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 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.)
The new BKKIFF will take place at Icon Siam’s Cineconic cinema from 27th September to 15th October. One of the highlights will be a major retrospective of films by Chatrichalerm Yukol, one of Thailand’s greatest filmmakers. Chatrichalerm’s film His Name Is Karn (เขาชื่อกานต์) launched a wave of groundbreaking social realist Thai films in the mid 1970s, though he later directed a series of lavish state-sponsored epics such as The Legend of Suriyothai (สุริโยไท).
The new BKKIFF will take place at Icon Siam’s Cineconic cinema from 27th September to 15th October. One of the highlights will be a major retrospective of films by Chatrichalerm Yukol, one of Thailand’s greatest filmmakers. Chatrichalerm’s film His Name Is Karn (เขาชื่อกานต์) launched a wave of groundbreaking social realist Thai films in the mid 1970s, though he later directed a series of lavish state-sponsored epics such as The Legend of Suriyothai (สุริโยไท).
