TAT announced Thursday that the festival, originally due to take place in January, would be held from July 1929 at a new venue, SF World Cinema at CentralWorld shopping complex.

Deputy governor Surapol Savetaserani said the delay was mainly due to the festival's budget being slashed from Bt180 million to only Bt60 million and the unavailability of venues.

The change of government also contributed to the problem because TAT could not access the budget during the transition.

"The smaller budget means we have to adjust many things and the delay was because we had only five months to prepare everything, which was too much of a rush," Surapol said.

"But the new schedule is good because it doesn't clash with lead?ing festivals like the Berlin International Film Festival,".

The scaleddown festival will feature 100 films compared to 150 last year.

"This year we will focus on Asian cinema. Previously, we had an American film director and we had more films from Hollywood. Featuring films from this region will also save the costs of shipping and spending on festival guests," said Chattan Kunjara Na Ayudhya, TAT's director of international public relations.

Chattan, who is in charge of the festival, said this year's event would pay more attention to filmgoers.

"We want it to truly benefit film?goers. Previously, the objective was solely aimed at benefiting tourism and involving lots of wellknown international guests. Now we are putting Thai filmgoers at the cen?tre of attention," added Chattan.

After the abrupt departure of US consulting firm Film Festival Management, TAT has turned to local allies.

The Federation of National Film Association of Thailand will help with marketing and will screen Thai films. TAT is also negotiating with Nation Multimedia Group, which may help to organise the event in the future.

"We are talking about the deal and budget and we expect it to be concluded by next year," said Chattan.

Parinyaporn Pajee

The Nation