The 5th World Film Festival of Bangkok (October 25 - November 4) will open with Japanese director Shinichiro Sawai's The Blue Wolf: To The Ends Of The Earth And Sea about legendary Mongolian warrior Genghis Khan.

Shinji Aoyama's Sad Vacation, Semih Kaplanoglu's Egg, Royston Tan's 881, Nina Menkes' Phantom Love, Jiska Rickels' 4 Elements and Jellyfish by Shira Geffen and Etgar Keret are among 10 films in competition. The rest of the titles will be announced at a later date.

Over 80 films from 30 countries will be screened at a new festival venue - Esplanade Cineplex, a 12-screen multiplex opened last December by Major Cineplex, and located at the Esplanade shopping and entertainment complex on Ratchadapisek Road in Din Daeng district.

A new section for European Union (EU) films will be launched, which offers 20 European films such as this year's Palme d'Or winner 4 Months, 3 Weeks And 2 Days by Cristian Mungiu, Bela Tarr's The Man From London and Jiri Menzel's I Served The King Of England.

Veteran Taiwanese actress-director Sylvia Chang will attend the festival for a tribute to herself. Her 20 30 40 and In Between will be screened.

A retrospective will be held for German director Percy Adlon, best known for his Baghdad Cafe. His latest documentary Orbela's People is one of the highlights.

The festival is organised by the Nation Multimedia group with sponsorships from Thailand's Alliance Francaise, Goethe Institut and the EU. As with previous years, the programme is put together by festival director Kriengsak 'Victor' Silakong who also served as programme director for this year's Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF).

Thailand has a busy festival calendar in the second half of this year. TAT's high-profile BKKIFF was pushed back to July from January and the inaugural Phuket Film Festival will run from October 21-27.

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