Film festival needs direction
Hua Hin's cinefest should forget the Cannes-like glamour and focus on Asean films
If the Red Carpet works, the film festival works. That seems to be the motto of the hype machine behind last weekend's Hua Hin International Film Festival, which proudly paraded stars down the sandy, horse-free beach of the InterContinental while the cinemas were haunted by ghosts. Nothing's wrong with using a movie festival to support tourism, as long as some attention is paid to what it's all about: film, and the film-going experience.
From left: Edward Cabagnot from the Philippines, Davy Chou from Cambodia, and Pawas Sawatchaiyamet from Thailand.
Actually, it's not a bad idea for Hua Hin to play host to a film festival. But just like the spectre of the scandal-strewn Bangkok International Film Festival, whose future remains uncertain, its mentality has to be heavily corrected. It's ostentatious that Hua Hin _ a privately sponsored event, according to the organiser _ wanted to copy Cannes as a cinefest of stars in low-cut dresses and beachfront enchantment. But the Federation of National Film Associations, who put on the event with the backup of Suwat Liptapanlop, who toured Cannes last May, only aped the most superficial dimension of the French festival. Cannes celebrates cinema, while the glamour is a show. Hua Hin insisted that glamour was the content.
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About the author
- Writer: Kong Rithdee
- Position: Deputy Editor
