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28 Feb 2006

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Movie Industry, 2006: Raising Exports

คะแนนเฉลี่ย

The 4th Bangkok International Film Festival took place February 17-27, 2006. The event was aimed at promoting the Thai film industry, promoting foreign filmmakers to use Thailand as a shooting location, as well as boosting the country's tourism. Recently, the Thai movie industry has exhibited considerable growth, both at home and abroad. In 2005, the market turnover of the domestic film industry totaled some THB1 billion, while film exports increased to THB960 million. It can therefore be seen that Thai movies have gained greater recognition in quality, and thus, many Thai films have won international awards.

Aside from the development of motion picture quality, it is unavoidable that Thai filmmakers will have to seek out new markets and use marketing strategies to promote the industry. Marketing opportunities should also be enhanced through participation in international film festivals overseas, which will result in higher revenues for Thai movies and/or film scripts. The domestic film festival not only provides the chance for audiences to view a wide variety of movies, but also leads to greater marketing opportunities for local filmmakers. Movies can be regarded as an export product, and also a cultural artifact that can be disseminated worldwide. They can be linked to other related industries, i.e., tourism, food, services, etc. In this regard, movies are not only a source of entertainment, but they can also add value to other products.

However, in a broader view, the local film industry is at present relatively small compared to that of other countries, mainly producing films for export. The volume of Thai film movies is still low, as Thai movies represent only 13-15 percent of all movies shown in cinemas here. Limited capital is seen as a chronic problem among local filmmakers, subsequently affecting quality. Moreover, other Thai film making-related businesses such as editing, special effects, sound dubbing, etc. - lack a strong linkage as a value chain. This led to such problems as copyright violations, and the unclear government promotions for the local film industry, all of which have restricted development among Thai cinemas.

Even though, in the last few years, export markets for the Thai film industry have become an increasingly important source of income, Thailand has to compete strongly with other Asian countries, notably Korea, the Philippines, India, Hong Kong and Japan, which also produce and export films to other countries. The film industries in these countries are being upgraded and are getting more support from their governments, as they realize that films have become cultural products that can be used as a tool to preserve and disseminate culture across nations. Then, there will be some windfall benefits for sales of goods and services to global markets. Development of the Thai film industry must be promoted steadily. KResearch is of the opinion that the development of Thai film industry depends largely on cooperation by all sectors concerned, especially in financial terms, as well as assistance in quality development, which will enable Thai films to achieve long-term market demand.

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