“LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION” – BANGKOK TO HOST MOVIE INDUSTRY CONFAB

Thailand will play host to the prestigious CineAsia exhibition, a gathering of regional and international filmmakers and those in the theater exhibition and movie distribution business, during December 4- 6, 2001.

This 8th edition of CineAsia (Singapore from 1994-96 and Hong Kong from 1997- 2000) promises to be the best yet as the Sunshine Group Worldwide, organizer of this event and three other similar shows held around the world including the Hollywood mainstay “ShoWest” held in Las Vegas every year, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) team up to showcase Thailand’s theater exhibition industry.

“Bangkok has some of the best cinemas in the world, and we want Asian exhibitors and Hollywood movie distributors to know it,” said Robert Sunshine, managing director of the New York based Sunshine Group.

In addition to the hundreds of manufacturers and suppliers of the multi- billion dollar motion picture industry, CineAsia attracts many well known Asian and Hollywood celebrities and moviemakers. This year, a special “world- premiere” of a Hollywood movie will be held in honor of His Majesty’s birthday on December 5th, movie lovers throughout Bangkok will be able to preview this movie (being kept a big secret by the organizers!) and meet the movie’s world-renowned director and stars. CineAsia, Internet sponsor, Movie-seer.com will be holding a contest later this year, winners of which will have the opportunity to attend CineAsia and meet the “stars”.

Tourism Authority of Thailand Governor Pradech Phayakvichien said, “The selection of Thailand as a venue for CineAsia 2001 highlight’s the country’s popularity as one of the world’s best location destinations for filming. The fact that CineAsia is relocating to Bangkok from Hong Kong also goes to show Thailand’s strengths in attracting world-class MICE events. Our excellent facilities and international classservices coupled with our world-renowned hospitality and competitive prices, truly sets Thailand apart as a leader in the Asian meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition industry.”

TAT has been working with various government agencies, especially the Department of Export Promotion (DEP) to promote the Thai entertainment industry in international markets. In May, the “Team Thailand Roadshow to Hollywood”, a 55 member strong group of Thai private sector representatives in the television, feature film, production and location services industries along with DEP, TAT and the Thai Film Board, had an opportunity to interact with their peers in Hollywood, learning about new technologies used by the industry and networking for increased business opportunities.

TAT also participated with DEP in the “ShoBiz Expo”; an exhibition held in Los Angeles May 31-June 1, where Thailand as a location destination for filmmaking along with Thai private sector production services was showcased to members of the Hollywood film and television industries.

In the year 2000, 402 international film producers chose Thailand as their prime location destination, of which 149 were from Japan. Produced were 206 documentaries, 164 advertisements, 24 feature films, 5 TV dramas and 2 miscellaneous productions. They spent approximately 553.1 million baht while generating a substantial number of jobs in Thailand’s filmmaking business.

CineAsia is just one of many MICE events that are coming to Thailand. Other, upcoming high profile events include the 12 th Gastroenterology World Congress and the 20 th World Scout Jamboree to be held in February and December 2002, respectively and the world’s largest convention, bringing over 30,000 delegates to Bangkok – the Lions Club International Convention in 2008.

In 2000, Thailand received a total of 860,786 business travelers and 83,513 convention delegates. Both showed a very strong growth of 15.85% and 10.84% correspondingly over 1999.