Foreign shoots are startingto return to Thailand after a slight downturn due to the tsunami according toTourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan.

Several feature films areplanning to shoot this year, including the $15m English-language action dramaRound Five to be produced by Barrie M. Osbourne, which starts production inOctober.

German director Werner Herzogis also preparing to shoot his Rescue Dawn in Thailand as a result ofdiscussions at the Bangkok Film Market last year.

Local films have alsocontinued to shoot on track, such as Pen-ek Ratanaruang's Invisible Waves which shot inFebruary in tsunami-hit Phuket.

The Thai government hasaggressively promoted the country as an international shooting location, andusing events such as the Bangkok International Film Festival to raiseawareness.

More than 1,000 featurefilms, TV series and commericals filmed in the country last year compared to388 in 2003. Recent high-profile productions include Alexander and BridgetJones: The Edge Of Reason.

Meanwhile, Siriwan confirmedthat the Bangkok film festival is changing dates to avoid the Golden Globes andSundance Film Festival and will now run immediately after the BerlinInternational Film Festival. Next year's festival is scheduled to run fromFebruary 17-27 with the third Bangkok Film Market to be held February 20-24.Berlin is set for February 9-19 in 2006.

"We only overlap for a few days and we hope people will comestraight to Bangkok after Berlin," said Bangkok festival director Craig Prater.

The market has also appointedIFTA vice chairman, finance, Lew Horwitz as honorary chairman. Both the marketand festival are also moving to a new venue, the Siam Paragon, a luxuryentertainment complex encompassing a 16-screen cinema, shops, restaurants andhotels.