The organisers of the Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF) have revealed that this year's edition will take place July 19-29 at SF Cinema City's new 15-screen flagship located in the recently renovated Central World entertainment complex.

The event had been scheduled to take place Jan 26-Feb 5 but was postponed when the organisers had difficulty securing a venue.

Exhibitor SF Cinema City is one of the new partners for the revamped event. With the financial support of Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), the concurrent film market will be organised by the Federation of the National Film Association of Thailand under president Chaiwat Theaweewongsangthong.

The collaboration marks an end to the disagreements between TAT and the federation which boycotted the 2006 BKKIFF.

However, as Central World's exhibition hall is still being built, the film market will remain at the Royal Paragon Hall of Siam Paragon - the same venue as last year, according to TAT's international public relations director, Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya.

New co-organisers for BKKIFF also include the Nation Multimedia Group which backed the old Bangkok Film Festival from 1998 - 2001 and started a rival World Film Festival of Bangkok in 2003 after organising the inaugural BKKIFF with TAT in 2002.

Kriengsak 'Victor' Silakong has been appointed festival director of the 2007 BKKIFF. He was previously head programmer of the inaugural BKKIFF and festival director of the World Film Festival since 2003.

'I'm glad that the dates [originally scheduled for this January] have changed, which will give us more time to run a proper festival. We can also get more fresh films,' he says. He has recruited an all-Thai programming team which includes Chalida Uabumrungjit and Mai Meksawan.

Meanwhile, budget for the event has been reduced further to $2.3m (80m baht) from the $3.6m (130m baht) that was previously announced.

'A lot has been invested in the past to establish the event. We've the feeling that there's no need to invest that much this year. It's also in line with the trend of the current government to not overdo things,' says Chattan.

In view of the New Year's Eve bomb attacks in Bangkok, he assures that tight security measures will be implemented to ensure everyone will enjoy the festival.

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