To commemorate His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday, the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture of the Ministry of Culture will present free screenings of nine short films by Thai directors from Friday until Wednesday at Paragon Cineplex and at Major Cineplex Pinklao.

The program comprises:

• Luminous Sound by Pen-Ek Ratanarueng
• Meteorites by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• Norasingha by Wisit Sasanatieng
• My First Report by Bhandit Rittakol
• 9th Gift by Araya Booncherd
• The Sanctuary of Sea by Pramtanee Wongprommed and Supharut Boonmayam
• Silencio by Sivaroj Kongsakul
• The Tale by Pornsak Sukongkarattanakul
• The Most Beautiful Man in the World by Phuttipong Aroonpheng

I was pretty exicited about this when I first read about it. The project, formally named Short Films Project in Commemoration of the Celebration on the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King's 80th Birthday Anniversary, includes shorts by three Silpathorn Award winners, who also happen to be three of my favorite directors - Pen-Ek Ratanaruang, Apichatpong Weerasethkul and Wisit Sasanatieng.

Bhandit Rittakol joins in with his contribution. I saw his 1983 film, Duay Klao (The Seed) when it was shown in a limited revival last year, and really enjoyed his portrayal of how the Royal Projects, such as cloud-seeding and crop replacement, as well as the Royal Ploughing Ceremony, are entwined with the lives of residents of rural Thailand.

Showtimes were tentatively being stated as 3pm and 8pm, but call ahead - (02) 515 5555 or see MajorCineplex.com - or just go to the cinema and see for yourself.

From HM the King to The Kingdom, this appears to me to be Syriana with less brains and more explosions.

Jamie Foxx stars as a hard-driving FBI agent who pulls some strings in order to get his crack team of investigators sent to Saudi Arabia to investigate the terrorist bombing of soem American expats while they are playing softball. Jennifer Garner co-stars as a member of the team, along with Jason Bateman and the always reliable Chris Cooper (he was in Syriana, too!). Jeremy Piven chips in, doing a riff on his Ari Gold character from Entourage.

Ashraf Barhom from Paradise Now also co-stars as the Americans' Saudi liason.

The Kingdom is getting mixed reviews, with a 53% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes (60% is fresh).

Also opening

• Laaga Chunari Mein Daag (Journey of a Woman) - Thailand is no longer left out when big Bollywood films premiere, thanks to the efforts of Bollywood Thai. They are bringing in this brand-new drama starring Rani Mukerji as a young woman growing up in a poor but happy family who takes it upon herself to provide for her younger sister (Konkona Sen Sharma), by heading to Mumbai to become the family's breadwinner. The film screens with original soundtrack with English subtitles at 8.15pm Friday and Saturday and 4pm on Sunday at SF World at CentralWorld and at 7.30 at SFX Emporium.
• The Last Legion - Ho hum. Another film about the legend of King Arthur. This one stars a very bored Colin Firth, and, unbelieveably, Bollywood beauty Ashwarya Rai as a warrior princess. Ben Kingsley provides comedy relief.
• Black Family - Note Cherm-yim directs and stars in this comedy about a farm family who plans to rob a bank to save their home from foreclosure, but ends up being hailed as heroes. With English subtitles at some cinemas.
• Invisible Target - Shawn Yue, Jaycee Chan and Nicholas Tse are Hong Kong police detectives assigned to investigate an armoured car robbery, but they first must put aside their personal differences. The leader of the robbery gang is the ever-intense martial artist, Wu Jing. With lots of fighting and broken glass, this sounds like a blast, but sadly it's only Thai dubbed with no English subs. I'll wait to catch the DVD out of Hong Kong sometime.