Two (2) Philippine films garnered awards at the 8th Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival (BAFF) 2022 awarding ceremony held at SF World Cinema, CentralWorld, Bangkok on 25 January 2023.

The Philippine entry “The Boy And The Fight of Spiders” (Diwalwal) was bestowed the Southeast Asian Project Pitch (SEAPITCH) Award by the jury. The SEAPITCH Competition is for feature-length film projects from ASEAN filmmakers with stories concerning the SEA region. The award included a trophy and a cash prize of USD5,000.

Meanwhile, “Rookie,” the other Philippine entry to the SEAPITCH Competition was given the Special Mention Award which includes a trophy and a cash prize of USD2,000.

Two (2) other Filipino films were also featured in BAFF 2022. “Rocks in a Windless Wadi” was the Philippines’ entry to the ASEAN Short Film Competition while Mike de Leon’s “Itim” (Rituals of May) was among the three (3) films featured in the ASEAN Classic non-competition film showcase.

BAFF is an annual event organized by the Thai Ministry of Culture together with the Federation of National Film Associations to promote and showcase films from the region. The festival gives opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs in the film industry of ASEAN member countries to share their talent to the world. BAFF aims to harness the cultural dimension in building good relations between countries and to foster cooperation and exchange of knowledge on arts and culture through film. It also aims to strengthen the relationship between ASEAN member countries and other countries by including entries from China, South Korea, Japan and India.

Thailand’s Minister of Culture Itthiphol Khunpluem presided over BAFF 2022 Opening and Awarding Ceremonies on 20 January and 25 January 2023, respectively. These events were attended by members of the diplomatic corps, officials from the Thai National Film and Video Committee, the National Federation of Film Associations and other representatives from film-related agencies. END