Thailand is attracting more and more foreign filmmakers

Thailand is increasingly popular with filmmakers due to its suitable locations, low costs, high production value and well-trained crew.

“I think Thailand is still a well-kept secret when it comes to movies,” said Chris Lowenstein, co-founder of Living Films, the Thai production company that worked on 'The Hangover: Part II'.

In 2010, according to the Thai Film Bureau, a total of 578 foreign productions – films, TV shows, commercials and documentaries – were shot in Thailand. Those productions brought in more than $59 million, a significant amount for a country that is still considered a developing country. That amount was already exceeded in the first half of this year.

Less bureaucracy

However, unlike Hong Kong, Japan and India (Bollywood), Thailand is not often mentioned as a major film country. This is partly because the locations are often models for places in other countries.

“Thailand is the location, but not the setting for more than 50 percent of our projects,” says Kulthep Narula, a Thai producer of Indian descent. “If you have a scene in an Indian prison, you might as well shoot it in a Thai prison.”

Thailand was the setting for the death camps of Cambodia in 'The Killing Fields', the jungles of Laos in 'Rescue Dawn' and the camps for Vietnamese prisoners of war in Rambo II. And more and more Indian scenes are also being shot in Thailand. Thai beaches, hills and even airports are regularly featured in Bollywood productions as Mumbai filmmakers want higher production values ​​without the Indian bureaucracy.

Sex industry

Also for the 'Only God Forgives' the Hollywood film with Ryan Gosling that will be released next year, recordings were made in Thailand. On average, the United States brings 22 productions to Thailand each year.

“Our production companies are in fact exporters. They bring in money from overseas and the films are sold in the foreign market,” says Abishek J. Bajaj, who works in the Thai film industry as a producer and manager.

One of his clients was Pure Flix Entertainment, an American company that makes Christian films, such as 'The Mark' and 'Encounter: Paradise Lost'. Pure Flix's Christian agenda is at odds with Bangkok's notorious image as a sex paradise.

Bajaj explains: “For independent films with a budget of less than a million dollars, Thailand is the ideal place to make a good product. Pure Flix makes family films based on a Christian conviction. The choice for Thailand is for purely financial reasons.”

But there are also productions that zoom in on the darker sides of Bangkok, to the chagrin of some Thais. “Thailand is more than prostitution and drugs,” complains Pak Chaisana of A Grand Elephant, who participated in the production of Only God Forgives.

Bad reputation

Thailand's reputation is racing ahead of the country, says American Justin Bratton, who works as a model and actor in Bangkok. “When I get friends from Texas to visit, they think anything is possible here. The thing is, they can just as easily get drugs at home. It is mainly the image that exists of Bangkok.”

Bratton, who studied communications at the University of Texas (Austin), lingered in Thailand after a tour. “In Los Angeles you work as an actor in the hospitality industry. There is so much talent there. Here I can work on my own projects in my spare time.”

“The world is small these days, why not look further,” says Grand Elephant's Chaisana. “The West has developed great technology, but the East has enthusiasm and is more open. In the West, a lot of the fun in filmmaking has disappeared,” she says.

Source: DeWereldMorgen.be