In 2009, the lights went down and the Bangkok International Film Festival never came back up. What had once been a bold attempt to place Thailand on the global cinematic map slipped quietly into memory, leaving behind faint echoes of red carpets and hurried subtitles. For nearly two decades, the festival lived more as myth than memory – mentioned occasionally in conversations about what Bangkok could have been, rather than what it was.
Now, the Bangkok International Film Festival is back from the pause – or at least from the cultural coma it’s been in since 2009. After a 17-year absence, the festival, once a glittering attempt to place Thailand alongside the Busans and Osakas of the world, is being revived with ambitions as grand as its name. This time, the organisers seem determined not merely to host another red carpet showcase but to reclaim Bangkok’s position as a cinematic capital in Southeast Asia.
For those who grew up after its disappearance, BKKIFF might land more like a typo than the title of a once-prominent event. For those who remember the early 2000s, the festival was briefly a symbol of possibility: an era when Bangkok’s malls became makeshift arthouses and Thailand dared to see itself as a stage for world cinema. Then it disappeared. Politics, money, the usual culprits – soon the event faded into cultural trivia, half-remembered in footnotes and old photographs.
Now, from September 27 to October 15, the festival returns, armed with 19 days of screenings, ceremonies and promises. The official curtain-raiser arrives on September 29 at Iconsiam’s Pinnacle Hall, where the first film to hit the screen will be the world premiere of Tee Yod 3 (Ghost Whisperer 3), the latest in a horror franchise that has already convinced Thai audiences to trust the dark. It’s a choice that suggests the organisers understand spectacle: nothing says ‘welcome back’ like a ghost.
The scale is striking. With more than 200 films slated from over forty countries – features, shorts, documentaries, animations – the festival will immediately be the largest of its kind in the region. Within three days of announcing an open call, over 100 short films had already been submitted. Screenings will sprawl across Siam Square’s cultural landmarks – Major Cineplex, SF Cinema, House Samyan, Lido Connect – turning the neighbourhood into a temporary labyrinth of cinema.
There will be competition sections too, with winners claiming the Phra Surasawadee awards, a nod to tradition in an industry obsessed with novelty. To qualify, entries must have premiered within the past year, ensuring a programme that reflects not just nostalgia for the festival’s lost years but cinema’s restless present.
Yet BKKIFF 2025 is also framing itself as more than a viewing marathon. Beyond the screenings lie masterclasses, panels and pitching sessions designed to elevate local filmmaking from passion projects to international contenders. Independent creators will have the chance to court both Thai and foreign investors, with a prize pool of around B800,000 on the table – small by Hollywood standards, but potentially transformative in Bangkok’s independent scene.
That last point matters. Recent success stories, like the Cannes-winning A Useful Ghost, have proved that Thai cinema can astonish when given oxygen. The creative vision is there; what’s often missing is support, the scaffolding of funding, mentorship and visibility. Whether this resurrected festival can provide that is the question.
For now, BKKIFF is promising not just a return but a reinvention. After all, there’s something fitting about a festival returning with a ghost story – it knows that coming back from the past is never simple.