Organizers of the Phuket Film Festival announced on Wednesday that the June 4-11 festival had been disrupted by the high security measures being put in place for the upcoming Asian heads of state meeting — only for the Thai government to subsequently cancel the inter-governmental summit.
"It took me a week to come to the decision to close down the festival, but 15 minutes after we sent out the press release the government backtracked," fest director Scott Rosenberg said.
Director Gus van Sant and actor Adrien Brody, who is the youngest actor ever to receive an Academy Award for Best Actor, were scheduled to attend. So too was "Cadillac Records" director Darnell Martin.
"Unfortunately, it would be difficult to go back the press now, and anyway, I’ve lost my Hollywood stars."
"(Due to) the creation of an armed state on Phuket for protection of the ASEAN meeting, which will take place days after the festival is to end, we found that the ‘sanook’ (fun) we had promised folks, was gone," Rosenberg said in his original statement.
The film festival had partnered with local and Asian companies for the event, among them Phuket Jet Tour, Bangkok Airways and Cathay Pacific.
The 2007 Phuket Film Festival took place over 7 Days, screening 40 films from 15 countries, with 7 hosted parties, two seminars including one on preservation of film.
UNESCO gave their prestigious Silver Fellini Award to the Thai National Film Archives (accepted by Thailand’s Minister of Culture).
13 foreign film makers attending in support of their film screenings, over 3,600 theater visitors with a recorded 100% approval rating – all for a budget of a little over 7 million Baht.
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