Friday 27 January 2012

Koh Phangan Film Festival

One of the few cultural events to occur on Koh Phangan Island, other than the regular moon parties (if they can be described as cultural), is the Koh Phangan Film Festival. This will be the fourth Phangan Film Festival and it promises to be as good if not better than last year’s.

The film festival will be held over a long weekend from 24th to 26th February. The films will be shown on a large outdoor screen on Ban Tai beach. The host for the event is the Holiday Beach Resort. You can book a room at Holiday Beach Resort directly by following this link.

Each year the independent film festival has had a different theme. This year the theme of the festival is Nature and Spirituality. Independent films will be shown from all over the world exploring these and concomitant ideas.

The organizer for the event is filmmaker and traveler Julian L Balmer who directed the 2007 film, Through the Easter Gate. It is a story of 3 young people on a spiritual quest.

Other notable films to be screened in the past at the festival include: Bag It – Is Your Life Too Plastic?, Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love, and Agrarian Utopia by Thai director Uruphong Raksasad.

There have been world premieres at the Koh Phangan Film Festival. Although some of the movies have not benefitted from a large budget they all seek to be thought provoking.

The 2012 Phangan Film Festival kicks off with an opening party at Ando Loco Mexican Restaurant located on the road between Ban Tai and Thongsala. The party is on 23rd February.

If you are in Koh Phangan at the end of February you should and make the effort to get to the festival to not only show your support to this worth-while event but also to be entertained. What better than watching a movie on the beach?

Here’s the trailer that was made for the 2009 Phangan Film Festival.

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