Cannes, Venice titles dominate revived Bangkok film festival competition

The Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF) has revealed a bumper lineup of 19 international titles for its main competition including Cannes Camera d’Or winner The President’s Cake and Venice’s Horizons winner On The Road, while Japanese hit Kokuho has been set as the closing film.

To mark the revival of the BKKIFF – its first edition since 2009 – highly anticipated Thai action horror film Death Whisperer 3 received a gala premiere on Monday (September 29). It was held at Major Cineplex’s Icon Cineconic cinema at Bangkok’s Iconsiam shopping mall.

More than 200 films are set to be screened from September 27-October 15, making it the largest film festival in the Southeast Asian region. The first two days of the festival mainly focussed on a retrospective of the experimental films and installations by late German director and artist Harun Farocki.

The main competition for international films is dominated by eight titles from Cannes, which also includes Un Certain Regard winner The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo and other prize winners such as A Poet, I Only Rest In The Storm and Sound Of Falling. A further six titles premiered in Venice, including Agon, Lost Land and Milk Teeth. Several cash prizes will be handed out, including the Bangkok Grand Prix Award worth $15,000.

Scroll down for full list of competition titles

A separate New Voices competition will showcase first, second and third features by Asian filmmakers. These include Hair, Paper, Water…, which won Locarno Golden Leopard’s Filmmakers of the Present, and Karlovy Vary winning Sand City.

The Thai Panorama section comprises 12 titles, including Cannes Critics’ Week grand prix winner A Useful Ghost, recent theatrical release Attack 13 and Ivo Wejgaard’s The Girl In The Feather Leather, which was filmed in Thailand. The latter is one of two world premieres, along with Death Whisperer 3, at this year’s BKKIFF.

The Talad Nang film market will run from October 1-4 at the Pinnacle Hall of Iconsiam. Around 50 Thai companies will take part, including film studios, production service providers, post production houses and institutions. The market will also provide development opportunities to Asian filmmakers through Asian Project Pitching. Some 10 Asian film projects from first- and second-time feature directors and eight Thai projects will be presented to a jury in pitching sessions.

BKKIFF is supported by Thailand’s Department of Cultural Promotion (DCP) under the Ministry of Culture and Thailand Creative Culture Agency (THACCA).

Donsaron Kovitvaniycha, a THACCA subcommittee member, serves as BKKIFF festival director and artistic director, while Pimpaka Towira is executive director of the market, along with Yuni Hadi and Jerome Paillard as director and advisor of Asian Project Pitching respectively.

BKKIFF Competition 2025 

A Poet (Col-Ger-Swe)
Dir. imón Mesa Soto

Agon (It-Fr-US)
Dir. Giulio Bertelli

Amoeba (Sing-Neth-Fr-Sp-S Kor)
Dir. Tan Siyou

Dry Leaf (Ger-Geo)
Dir. Alexandre Koberidze

I Only Rest In The Storm (Fr-Port-Bra-Rom)
Dir. Pedro Pinho

Julian (Bel-Neth)
Dir. Cato Kusters

Last Night I Conquered The City Of Thebes (Sp-Port)
Dir. Gabriel Azorin

Lost Land (Japan-Fr-Malay-Ger)
Dir. Akio Fujimoto

Milk Teeth (Rom-Fr-Den-Greece-Bul)
Dir. Mihai Mincan

On The Road (Mex)
Dir. David Pablos

Promised Sky (Fr-Tun-Qat)
Dir. Erige Sehiri

Renoir (Japan-Fr-Sing-Phil-Indo-Qat)
Dir. Chie Hayakawa

Sound of Falling (Ger)
Dir. Mascha Schilinski

Strange River (Sp-Ger)
Dir. Jaume Claret Muxart

The Chronology Of Water (US-Fr-Lat)
Dir. Kristen Stewart

The Mysterious Gaze Of The Flamingo (Chile-Fr)
Dir. Diego Céspedes

The President’s Cake (Iraq)
Dir. Hasan Hadi

This City Is A Battlefield (Indo-Sing-Neth-Fr-Nor-Phil-Camb)
Dir. Mouly Surya

Homebound (India)
Dir. Neeraj Ghaywan

New Voices competition

Black Ox (Japan-Tai-US)
Dir. Tetsuichiro Tsuta

Diamonds In The Sand (Malay-Japan-Phil)
Dir. Janus Victoria

Hair, Paper, Water… (Fr-Bel-Viet)
Dir. Trương Minh Quý, Nicolas Graux

Sand City (Bang)
Dir. Mahde Hasan

Secret Of A Mountain Serpent (India-Sri)
Dir. Nidhi Saxena

Skin Of Youth (Viet-Sing-Japan)
Dir. Ash Mayfair

The Fin (S Kor)
Dir. Park Syeyoung

Tiger’s Pond (India-Sing)
Dir. Natesh Hegde

When The Night Stands Still (It-Phil)
Dir. Liryc Dela Cruz

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