Parallel ambitions | Bangkok Post: Arts & Culture

We wish them the best of luck, and we pray Hua Hin International Film Festival won't turn out to be a lemon. A month ago hardly anybody had heard about this brand-new event, and now those who've heard about it are wondering if they'll take the trouble of making a trip down to the seaside town to watch the films. Our advise is, if the sky is blue and you have nothing else to do (and if you want to forsake the Bangkok Experimental Film Festival that will also happen this weekend) just go for the fun of it. Worst case, you can always decamp to the beach, or one of the seafood joints in Khao Takieb.

The motif is ambiguous: It looks like the Hua Hin Fest, backed by politician/businessman Suwat Liptapanlop and organised by Federation of National Film Associations, is another tourism machine that inherits the red-carpet mania of the wayward Bangkok International Film Festival. Rumour that the eminent Jude Law would come to Hua Hin has been proved just a rumour; the biggest name that will saunter down the carpet is Michelle Yeoh, who'll come to present her film The Lady. Besides her, there will be a coterie of local celebrities, to be chauffeured in en mass, and two popular Korean stars, Han Hyo-joo and So Ji-Sub.

About 30 films will be screened at Major Cineplex Hua Hin starting tomorrow until Sun, Jan 29 (the opening ceremony on Friday will be at Intercontinental Resort, with a promise of glamour). Most of the titles will be Asian, with a focus on Asean. It should be noted, however, that Hua Hin is offering itself up as a launch pad for new films to be released in Thailand, meaning that the majority of the title shown there this weekend will eventually arrive at local cinemas within a month or so anyway. Another unusual programming decision is that many films slated for Hua Hin are now being shown at World Film Festival of Bangkok we previewed last week.