Thai Film Week a hit in Shanghai

Chinese audiences enjoyed a feast of Thai movies during the first Thai Film Week, staged in Shanghai from Nov 15 to 18, featuring 12 films.

Thai films have been shown at the Shanghai International Film Festival for the past two years, also attracting keen audience interest. 

"The success gave us the impetus to promote the Thai entertainment industry to China," said Buskorn Prugsapongse, consul-general of Thailand in Shanghai, in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

Thai movie star Mos Patiparn visited Shanghai and met Chinese audiences for the film week. The movie Like or Love, in which he stars, opened the festival at the Cathay Theater.

Buskorn said all the 12 movies were carefully selected for a Chinese audience. "Our experience shows Chinese audiences prefer light-hearted comedies and romance," she said. "They want movies to be entertaining, with beautiful scenes and good-looking actors."

The Thai movie industry has gained global recognition in recent years, winning many international awards.

Buskorn said movies build a bridge to connect people of different cultures. 

"They enhance mutual understanding, and the influence lasts longer," she said. 

Thailand has been a favorite location for foreign film producers since the 1950s, and last year 28 foreign movies were filmed in the country.

Li Zicheng, 30, who works for a film production company in Bangkok, said movie audience figures in Thailand were lower than those in China so the country produced fewer big-budget films.

Thai television series began to be introduced to China in 2006, and popular Thai actors, such as Mos and Pong Nawat, have become firm favourites, with Pong, having more than 200,000 followers on micro blog platform weibo.com.