To be held in Bangkok from 27 April to 3 May, 2009, the festival's tentative program includes twenty films from Asian countries; such as, China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and the Philippines, twenty films from Europe, America, ten Thai classic and contemporary films, and some internationally regarded shorts.

The World Comedy Film Festival aims to celebrate our gift for laughter and to portray the broad spectrum of humour as reflected in comedy films made around the world. It is at once a simple and a difficult idea: will, say, non-Japanese people laugh at a very Japanese joke? And what is a typical Japanese joke, or American, or British, or Mexican, or Indian, or Russian? Is it possible that what makes some people laugh will make other people cry? Will the joke translate through subtitles, or through other cultural and political barriers?

We believe that our ability to laugh will overcome these conditions. The program of the World Comedy Film Festival will try to prove this by serving up a variety of comedy films from different countries featuring all shades of humour. The line-up will encompass physical comedy, madcap comedy, romantic comedy, family comedy, food comedy, wedding comedy, political comedy, black comedy, and of course, the good old slapstick where no one cares if anything makes any sense as long as it makes you laugh your socks off.

The programming team have been curating Asian Comedy from Korea to Israel, and World comedy from New Zealand to Canada. We will feature a showcase of Russian comedy, from the Soviet era to the post-perestroika titles; so perhaps we can judge if the ability to laugh has anything to do with Communism or Capitalism. A selection of Southeast Asian comedy will range from a satirical Singaporean flick to a crazy Malaysian film, meanwhile our programs of comedy shorts, picked from over 100 titles, will offer bite-sized entertainment of various flavours, from a deadpan Chilean movie to a Filipino crowd-pleaser.

Perhaps the most relevant section is the Classic Thai Comedy: A Chronology of Siamese Humor. This program will feature 10 Thai comedies from the 1960s to the present. Partly this section aims at celebrating some of Thailand's legendary funnymen who helped defined the character of Thai comedy, from the late Lor Tok to the good-humored director Dokdin Kalyaman to the popular teen comedy by Uncle and Sumo Sam-ang group.

Some people wonder whether this is a good time to throw a laugh-party when this country is facing so many economic and political problems. But because sometimes we laugh not because we're happy but because we believe that we can be happy, there is no better time to stage a comedy film festival than now.

For further details about the festival and tickets, please go to www.thailandworldcomedyfilm.com/main_eng.php