Thailand Revives Bangkok International Film Festival With First Edition Planned For January
Thailand's new film agency, Thailand Creative Content Agency (THACCA), has confirmed that the country is relaunching its Bangkok International Film Festival on a large scale in January, 2026.
Dr. Surapong Suebwonglee, Chairman of the National Soft Power Development Committee of Thailand, announced the news during a Cannes Marche panel in which he also outlined THACCA's vision for supporting and expanding the vibrant Thai film industry.
More from Deadline
Tom Cruise Shows Up To Celebrate 'Mission: Impossible' Filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie At Cannes Masterclass
Legendary Musician & Brazilian Culture Minister Margareth Menezes On Rebuilding The Country's Film Sector & Regulating Streamers: "We Want What Is Fair"
Global Constellation Boards Sales On Paris-Set Queer Animation 'Jim Queen'
While exact dates are yet to be announced, the revived festival will take place around the second week of January, ending before the Sundance Film Festival kicks off on January 22.
Thai producer and critic Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, currently director of the World Film Festival in Bangkok, will be artistic director of the new event, which will include a section for international films and a separate program for Thai movies. 'The international audience can come to see what's going on in Thai cinema across the whole range of both artistic and mainstream movies,' Donsaron explained.
The event will also have a market and industry component headed by Thai producer and director Pantham Thongsang, which will also include pitching sessions and year-round workshops.
Meanwhile, a wider Thai cultural event, showcasing all aspects of Thailand's creative industries including film, food and fashion, will be held in Bangkok in July.
Also during the THACCA panel, Dr. Surapong outlined the advantages of working with Thailand, which include a 30% production rebate, experienced crews, rising actors and directors and a vibrant post-production sector. He also shared that Thailand is in the process of negotiating a series of co-production treaties.
'We have a rising creative force, along with a robust public-private partnership; we also have talent, competitive costs and world-class stories,' Dr. Surapong said.
He also explained the many funding and talent development initiatives of the new Thailand Creative Content Agency (THACCA), which will officially launch next year but has already handed out $6.4m (THB220m) to 86 Thai projects in its first funding round.
One of the projects supported by the new fund is A Useful Ghost, directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, which is premiering here in Critics Week. Produced by Cattleya Paosrijaroen and Soros Sukhum at Thailand's 185 Films, the film is co-produced by Singapore's Momo Film Co and France's Haut Les Mains.
Also in Cannes, THACCA is holding a pitching event (May 19-20 at the Thai Pavilion) for three projects from filmmakers who are following up their award-winning debuts. The three selected projects, which have also received support from the new fund, include The Blind Earthworm In The Labyrinth, from Taiki Sakpisit (The Edge Of Daybreak); Ghost Of The Currents, from Patiparn Boontarig (Solids By The Seashore) and Ray Of Light from Nontawat Numbenchapol (Doi Boy).
The old Bangkok International Film Festival, organized by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, came to a halt in 2006 when it emerged that the former Thai tourism minister, Juthamas Siriwan, was involved in defrauding the festival along with a U.S. couple, Gerald and Patricia Green, who were helping organize the event. Both Juthamas and the U.S. organizers were consequently imprisoned in their respective countries.
Since that time, Thailand has hosted several smaller festivals, but never had a large-scale international event. The organizers of the new Bangkok International Film Festival are stressing that it will be organized by a non-profit organization with the support of THACCA and the Thai government.
The new festival will open a call for entries in a few months.
Best of Deadline
Everything We Know About The 'Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping' Movie So Far
TV Show Book Adaptations Arriving In 2025 So Far
Book-To-Movie Adaptations Coming Out In 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business Insider
Farewell to the 'Mad Men' era: Advertising's biggest bash of the year will showcase the industry's seismic changes
The ad industry is making its annual jaunt to France this week for the Cannes Lions ad festival. Big topics of discussion include agency consolidation and the departure of high-profile execs. This article is part of " CMO Insider," a series on marketing leadership and innovation. Advertising executives descending on the French Riviera this week for the annual Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will raise their glasses of rosé to toast the twilight of Madison Avenue's glory days. Tom Denford, CEO of the agency search consultancy ID Comms, told me this year's Cannes Lions would be "like a requiem" for the traditional agency business. But that doesn't mean there won't be action. What began as an awards event in the 1950s to celebrate the best ads of the year — affectionately known as "The Work" — has morphed into a sprawling showcase of tech, entertainment, influencers, and every intermediary you can imagine. In recent years, Cannes has featured huge beach takeovers and custom-made event structures from the likes of Amazon, Google, and Meta. The agencies and marketers in attendance are grappling with multiple tectonic shifts all happening at once — from the rise of artificial intelligence to the decline of linear TV, and seemingly never-ending economic uncertainty that makes marketers nervous about long-term budget planning. WPP Media recently cut its 2025 global ad spending growth forecast to 6% from 7.7%, citing "disruptions to global trade and continued deglobalization." While Agencyland's creative class may be nostalgic for the era of showstopping Don Draper-esque pitches, and when cinematic ads won the biggest awards, the industry has shifted its offerings to service clients' changing needs. Retail media isn't the sexy pursuit many executive creative directors dreamed about breaking into the industry for, but it's having a moment. According to the World Advertising Research Center, spending on commerce websites, apps, and in-store displays is projected to overtake linear TV ad spending by 2026. Cannes Lions has introduced a dedicated subcategory for retail media in both its Media and Creative Commerce Lions awards this year. Albertsons is among the companies making its festival debut this week. The supermarket chain is bringing a grocery store activation to the beach and a team of seven people from its Media Collection retail media division. Jen Saenz, Albertsons' EVP and chief commercial officer, said the aim is to showcase what's unique about the grocer's offering for advertisers: "Not just transactions, but brand stories." The traditional agency business is at a crossroads There have been multiple changes of the guard at the largest ad agency holding companies. Omnicom and IPG are awaiting the closing of their gigantic merger that would create the world's largest advertising agency company by revenue, usurping Publicis, which had only recently toppled WPP's crown. Two of the industry's most high-profile execs — Mark Read, CEO of WPP, and famed ad man David Droga, from Accenture Song — have announced their coming departures. Layoffs have been a sad constant for the rank and file as agencies consolidate. When I asked one ad agency veteran how they envisaged the scene at Cannes this year, they responded: "Type into ChatGPT: Agency exec sitting on corner of the Croisette with cardboard sign around neck saying: Will do creative or plan media for food.'" New independent agencies and big consulting firms are gaining on the traditional holding companies. Industry analyst Brian Wieser recently estimated that the "big six" agency holding companies now have a 30% share of the total US ad agency industry, down from a peak of around 40% in 2015. It's a trend that will be on full display at Cannes Lions next week. Stagwell, the agency group led by former Microsoft strategist and advisor to the Clintons, Mark Penn, is back again with its huge "Sports Beach" activation. It will feature sessions from famed athletes like former world tennis No. 1 Billie Jean King and former NBA legend Carmelo Anthony, as well as activities like a swim club and pickleball tournaments. Accenture Song has a catamaran docked in the harbor to host meetings and has execs speaking onstage at the Palais, where the main conference takes place. The agency world is adapting to its new data-driven, AI reality Brian Morrissey, the former editor in chief of marketing and media trade publication Digiday, who now writes the media newsletter The Rebooting, has invented a new parlor game for Cannes. He's going to ask everyone he meets to name their favorite ad campaign of the past 12 months. His guess is that most attendees will struggle to instantly conjure one up, despite the fact that advertising is their profession. Morrissey said it's a reflection of the fading relevance in culture of mass media and the 30-second ad spot, as consumer media habits evolve and marketing budgets shift to precision-targeting and performance-marketing. "All the action has moved to the data side of advertising," Morrissey said. (Disclosure: I previously worked for Morrissey at Digiday.) Cannes will remain a decadent affair in 2025, much to the chagrin of the many colleagues back at home who didn't get a golden ticket. (The most expensive pass stretches to more than $12,000 this year — and that's before factoring in travel and accommodation.) Set on the iconic Croisette promenade with its opulent hotels and stunning sea views, some lucky VIPs will be treated to yacht excursions and performances from musical acts including Cardi B, Ludacris, Lola Young, and Diplo. The real A-Listers at Cannes Lions, though, are the chief marketing officers with budgets to spend. Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook said that more than 350 brands attended last year, and that's expected to rise this year. David Jones, CEO of the Brandtech Group, has some handy advice for marketers who will undoubtedly receive numerous AI sales pitches this coming week. "When someone shows you something great, ask for a login; ask if you can make content and produce it and publish it now to TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube," Jones said. "If you can, they have a platform, and if you can't, they have a demo."
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Beloved TV Star, 47, Puts Curves on Display: ‘Screams Glamour'
Beloved TV Star, 47, Puts Curves on Display: 'Screams Glamour' originally appeared on Parade. Hannah Waddingham just stole the show. The 47-year-old Ted Lasso star shut down the red carpet in Cannes this May, and fans are applauding the actress for her statuesque presence and confident curves. In a video shared on social media, the Mission: Impossible actress can be seen wearing a strapless, floor-length pink gown with a striking bustle. The 5'11' actress and singer is never afraid to command attention—and this pink moment is one of her the red carpet like Naomi Campbell herself (and really, does anyone walk better than Naomi?), Waddingham owns the look. The dress is only slightly overshadowed by her stunning figure and undeniable confidence. Fans quickly took to the comment section to gush over Waddingham's Cannes appearance. One wrote, 'She just SCREAMS glamour and fabulousness,' while another added, 'Oh, she is the epitome of elegance and beauty.' 'She's an absolute goddess,' said one starstruck fan. Another declared simply, 'She is iconic.'As compliments continue to pour in across social media, one fan summed up the sentiment many seem to share: 'I absolutely have a girl crush on her. She's stunning.' Well said. 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox🎬 Beloved TV Star, 47, Puts Curves on Display: 'Screams Glamour' first appeared on Parade on Jun 13, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 13, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Scarlett Johansson Details Depths of Her ‘Jurassic Park' Fandom, From Pitching Herself to Steven Spielberg to Organizing Screening for Avengers Cast
Scarlett Johansson loves Jurassic Park so much that she had no issue pitching herself to franchise guru Steven Spielberg when she got word that a new installment was in the works. But she did have a dilemma: Play it cool or go full fangirl? 'I had a meeting with him and I don't actually know if he knew the depths of my Jurassic fandom, but I'm hoping that no one explained it to him too thoroughly because it maybe would've come off as being a little too much,' Johansson explained to The Hollywood Reporter during a recent interview about her Cannes Film Festival selection Eleanor the Great. 'Although knowing Steven now, he was excited when I shared with how much it would mean to me to play any part in Jurassic. I could've played it cooler and maybe I wouldn't have gotten it.' More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Music by John Williams' Doc Director on How Spielberg Convinced the Legendary Composer to Do the Film Scarlett Johansson's 'Eleanor the Great' Draws Cheers, Tears at Cannes Premiere 'Eleanor the Great' Review: June Squibb Steadies Scarlett Johansson's Wobbly Directorial Debut Got it she did, and audiences will soon have the chance to see the fangirl-turned-franchise star when Universal Pictures' Jurassic World Rebirth hits theaters on July 2. The entry marks a new era in the Jurassic Park universe and finds Johansson starring opposite a cast that includes Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Luna Blaise, David Iacono, Audrina Miranda, Philippine Velge, Bechir Sylvain and Ed Skrein. Directed by Gareth Edwards from a script by David Koepp, Jurassic World Rebirth picks up five years after the events of Jurassic World Dominion at a time when the planet's ecology has proven largely inhospitable to dinosaurs. Those remaining exist in isolated equatorial environments with climates resembling the one in which they once thrived. The three most colossal creatures across land, sea and air within that tropical biosphere hold, in their DNA, the key to a drug that will bring miraculous life-saving benefits to humankind. Johansson stars as Zora Bennett, a covert operations expert who is contracted to lead a skilled team on a top-secret mission to secure the genetic material. When Zora's operation intersects with a civilian family whose boating expedition was capsized by marauding aquatic dinos, they all find themselves stranded on a forbidden island that had once housed an undisclosed research facility for Jurassic Park. 'Unbelievable' is how Johansson describes the fact that she's in the new installment. 'I've been trying to get into a Jurassic movie for, I don't know, 15 years or something,' she continued. 'I was so stoked that it all came together.' Like most things in Hollywood, it all came down to timing. 'When I first heard that there was a new Jurassic movie coming, that it was written with a female lead who was the age that I could fit into, and that it was happening during a time period that I could shoot, it was particularly surreal,' Johansson said. 'I was actually in the middle of making Eleanor — we were filming it at the time — so there was a lot happening at the time. I had to compartmentalize my nervous excitement for the job in front of me while also focusing on making it work. I would have these really geeked out, fangirl moments and then be, like, 'OK, put that away for a second.'' Johansson's fandom dates back to the release of the original Jurassic Park in the summer of 1993. She was only 8 years old at the time, and on the verge of making her big screen debut in North. 'It was such a formative moviegoing experience for me. It was like nothing any of us had seen before. The effects were extraordinary. It was the perfect mix of CGI, puppetry, an incredible score, a mix of drama with some comedy, it was gory but not too gory, it was scary but not too scary. The kids were great in it. It hit every part of what makes a movie great in a theater, and it felt like everyone was having such a collective experience. It was so thrilling and has stayed with me forever. Those kinds of movies are rare, and I'm here for them. I'm here to be carried away, entertained and thrilled.' She's become such an obsessed fan that when the first Jurassic World film came out in 2015, she happened to be on a job with her Marvel Cinematic Universe colleagues so she organized a group outing. 'I love to go to these movies with total abandon, grab a huge bucket of popcorn and some Raisinets and just disappear into the film. I'm such a fan,' she said. 'When the new Jurassic World came out, we were in New Mexico filming one of the Avengers films, and I set up this weekend outing. We took a big group and ate chicken fingers and nachos and yelled at the screen. I was so pumped that there was a new generation of Jurassic. Now that I get to be in one, it's just crazy.' And she learned a lesson along the way: 'It taught me that if you are enthusiastic about a project, it is actually good to share your enthusiasm. You don't have to dumb it down or play it cool.'Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
