LEKHA SHANKAR

'Bitter Sweet' premieres at Houston fest, tomorow

Lekha Shankar

Bangkok-based Swiss producer Urs Brunner has arrived in Houston,and is very excited about the premiere of  his maiden film 'Bitter Sweet' tomorrow evening,at the Worldfest Houston Internat Film & Video festival.

 It takes place at the AMC Studio, 30 Cinema on Dunvale, Houston-7 pm.

This is his first foray into films, for  the coffee corporate-head,  who states that  ‘coffee’ is the main theme of the story. 

  “ Like the film ‘Sideways’ promoted wine, I want to promote coffee,in 'Bitter Sweet'!” laughed the Swiss businessman, who spoke a lot about the coffee and coffee plantations of Thailand, in his first TV talk-show in Houston- the 'Houston Dialogue' program, that will be aired on CCT, Thursday.

Director Jeff Hare hopes it will be a hat-trick for him, with this film, having won two awards at the same festival, for his earlier films!.

The Thai stars are not in Houston,but are excited about the American premiere. They hope the Bangkok premiere,later in the year, will be a grandiose event- after all, they have a huge star-following in the country.

Meanwhile, the Houston audiences can watch out for some lush, lip-smacking scenes of  the Thai robusta, not to mention the Thai landscapes,spirit, romance, in a film that's not very 'bitter' ,but is mostly all 'sweet' .......

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Details of 'Bitter Sweet', to screen at Worldfest Houston

      ‘ANGEL & BEAR PRODUCTIONS’ PLAN THAI FILMS FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKET First Film ‘BITTER SWEET’ to have N. American Premiere at Worldfest Houston  

LEKHA J SHANKAR, in Bangkok

 Bangkok-based Swiss producer Urs Brunner has just launched  ‘Angel & Bear Productions’ with the aim of  “ Making Thai films for the international market.” “All our films will be  set and shot in Thailand, with a Thai crew, but we’ll use local and foreign stars, in order to aim at an international audience”  said the Swiss businessman, who said the ‘Angel’, in his company’s name, stood for  the ‘City of Angels’ (Bangkok), where he’s based, and  the ‘ Bear’ for his native country, Switzerland.  Brunner, who’s been living in Bangkok for two decades, heads  Boncafe Thailand , a well-known gourmet  coffee  producing/roasting company, with domestic sales of $ 20 million. And so, the rarely- seen coffee plantations in Thailand’s lush beach-town of  Krabi, form the back-drop of  his just-completed, first feature ‘Bitter Sweet’ which will  have its North American premiere on 24 April, at the WorldFest Houston International Film & Video Festival .  Brunner  teamed up  with American  ‘Capitol Motion Pics’ and ‘Eighth Wonder Entertainment ’ for the romantic drama, which has a big Thai-American cast.  The American director of the film, Jeff  Hare, won  prizes at  the Houston festival, for his 1999 debut film ‘A Perfect little Man’  and his 2004  film ‘Checking Out’ .The  American stars of  ‘Bitter Sweet’  are Kip Pardue ( ‘Return of the Titans, Laura Smiles’ ), who plays the lead, supported by James Brolin ( ‘Traffic, Last Chance Harvey’) , Spencer Garrett ( ‘ Air Force One, Charlie Wilson’s War’) , Laura Sorenson (‘Bewitched, Forgiven .’)Sultry Thai actress Mamee Nakprasit  ( ‘Butterfly Man, First Bite’ ) plays the female lead, and is supported by a bevy of   popular Thai stars- Akara Amarttayakul , Pakramai Potranan, Kalorin Nemayothin- as also a guest-appearance by well-known Thai singer,   the ‘Madonna’ of Asia, Tata Young.  “ We are pitching the film to sales agents in other countries, and are looking at all avenues, from theatre releases, to dvd sales and cable-network “ said Brunner. He informed that the Thai release would be handled by him, and the US release by Jon Karas of Capitol Motion Pics.  He hoped that the Thai release would follow a possible premiere at the Bangkok International Film Festival.   US producer  Karas’ previous films include a sports-tale ‘Believe in Me’ and  a theatrical comedy ‘Checking Out’, the latter directed by ‘Bitter Sweet’ director Jeff Hare. Following ‘Bitter Sweet’,  Karas has already completed shooting a second film in Thailand  ‘Shadows’, directed by John Penny,  starring Hollywood actor William Hurt in a small but significant role.   ‘Bitter Sweet’ director Jeff Hare is also ready to shoot his next film in Thailand .     According to them, “ The country has excellent locales, crew, stars, technical facilities, and in addition, is extremely cost-effective.” ‘Bitter Sweet’ was shot in 24 days, within a budget  of  $ 5 million,and the  post-production was done  at Technicolor’s state-of-art facility in Bangkok.Brunner informed that this was one of the first ‘Thai’ films to be shot with the new HD-Sony Red cam.The Swiss producer is aiming at both the festival and commercial circuit ,for his maiden film .“ It’s not easy, but I’m a businessman ,and  I love challenges ” he said, adding “ A film like  ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ has given us all hope.”

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