| Apr 05, 2012
The HKIFF is all well and good, and Cannes is the crème de la crème, but try this regional film festival on for size. Film on the Rocks Yao Noi—which was held from March 9 to 13 at the Six Senses resort on the Thai island in the Andaman Sea—is the brainchild of the hotel’s owner, Nat Sarasas, and his friend, Chomwan Weeraworawit, who is a lawyer by trade. 
Curated by actress Tilda Swinton and Thai indie film director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the confab was invite-only and full of A-listers from the film and fashion worlds in Thailand, the US and beyond. Chloe Sevigny was there, people! Gala beachfront dinners, art installations and high-minded talks and workshops were on the agenda. There were film screenings, too, of course, featuring both local movies and those made abroad. The highlight, though, must’ve been the final night, when attendees were boated out to a floating platform loaded with seats and cushions moored across from a screen. Designed by architect Ole Scheeren, this “archipelago cinema” allowed festival-goers to view an “Alice in Wonderland” short, Titanic footage and the 1924 silent film “Peter Pan” amid idyllic waters and karst formations. There’ll be another Film on the Rocks in 2013, so keep an eye out. In the meantime, the organization is planning another event—one that’s open to the public, whew—in Bangkok in July.
Visit www.filmontherocksyaonoi.com for more information about the film festival.
My oh my, has this been a great couple of weeks for low-cost carriers. First of all, Air Asia (www.airasia.com) announced direct flights between Macau and Chiang Mai starting May 22, making it that much easier to get to Thailand’s enchanting, elephant-laden northern city. Then, Cebu Pacific touted that as of March 23 it’s starting nonstop service between Hong Kong and Boracay. That’s right—no more silly stopovers in Manila’s, erm, lovely airport to get to the Filipino island paradise. Lastly, Qantas and China Eastern are teaming up to launch Jetstar Hong Kong. The joint venture will start operations next year with just three planes flying short-haul routes in China, Japan, South Korea and Southeast Asia. An official says that the fares will be some 50 percent lower than full-service airlines. This newcomer joins a crowded playing field of Asian no-frills airlines—newcomers Scoot (from Singapore Airlines), Peach (All Nippon’s little sister) and Jetstar Japan, just to name a few. Let’s just hope Jetstar Hong Kong fares better than the now-defunct Oasis Airlines Hong Kong.
Sounds like Japan is still experiencing some post-quake lulls in tourism. Via Travelzoo—a weekly newsletter of deals and promotions that I’ve subscribed to for several years now—I found out that Delta Air Lines is slashing prices on flights to Tokyo until June 28. If you go for the daily flight that departs Hong Kong at 8:20am and returns from Narita at 7:20pm, you can bag an RT for about $2,800 including tax—as low a fare as I’ve ever seen. April 27 to 29 are blackout dates, but the rest of the date range is A-OK—book online by April 15to take advantage of this deal.
Visit www.delta.com to book.
Email me at halberts@asia-city.com.hk or follow me on Twitter @HanaRAlberts.
