A collective of independent Thai filmmakers have joined with SF World Cinema at CentralWorld to bring alternative films to the multiplex masses with the Director's Screen series.

It opens on Thursday with Wonderful Town, a romantic drama set in post-tsunami Phuket Province by Aditya Assarat. It's been a favourite on the film-festival circuit since winning the New Currents prize at last year's Pusan International Film Festival, where it premiered. It has also won prizes at festivals in Rotterdam, Deauville, France, and Hong Kong.

The second film is Pimpaka Towira's political documentary, The Truth Be Told: The Cases Against Supinya Klangnarong, an epic project that chronicles the 400-million-baht lawsuit filed against the media activist by the Shin Corporation and covers four tumultuous years in Thai politics, from the Thaksin era, the anti-Thaksin protests and the 2006 coup. The film premiered at the Thai Film Foundation's Digital Forum last year and has since been screened at Rotterdam, the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival in Greece, Singapore and at Hot Docs in Toronto. It starts on May 29.

The Directors' Screen series is a collaboration of Extra Virgin, a collective of indie filmmakers and SF World Cinema. Here's more from an article in today's Daily Xpress:

"Promoting the films is easier if we group them as a package, as we have with Wonderful Town and The Truth Be Told," says Pimpika, a partner in Extra Virgin, which produces and distributes independent films.

SF's marketing manager Suphat Ngamwongpaibool is enthusiastic, saying he's keen  to attract indie film fans to the CentralWorld multiplex.

Pimpaka says the Director's Screen series will only survive if seat occupancy exceeds 30 per cent.

"I think there are between 5,000 and 10,000 regular fans of alternative film in Bangkok, so if they regularly patronise the cinema, the project will be good for both filmmakers and the multiplex," she says.

But Suwat says even if some of the films aren't so successful, "we can find a way of making it work".

Each film will screen at 7.30pm daily for four weeks at CentralWorld. I think this is a good move -- it's a convenient time in a convenient location. Having the daily screenings at once fixed time eliminates the guesswork. Ticket prices are 140 baht.

Filmmakers who want to join the Directors' Screen series can pitch their project to SF Cinema's Film Programming Department at (02) 611 7111.