Belushi, Ving and the 'Dude' director: Let the Bangkok International Film Festival begin

The Bangkok International Film Festival promo video highlights some of actors expected to attend this year’s event.

Scandals be damned, Bangkok’s International Film Festival -- or BIFF -- opens this Thursday with a celebrity lineup that includes a motley crew of guests and a diverse line-up of films.

The biggest names attending are Jim Belushi, Ving Rhames (“Mission Impossible III”) and Danny Leiner (director of "Dude, Where's My Car?", which was a massive hit in Thailand). Not great, but not bad either.

After all, there’s just something about lovable Belushi that gives the festival an extra bit of shine. Really, who can't appreciate a man who wrote a book titled "Real Men Don't Apologize"? 

The festival will run from September 24 to 30 at Paragon Cineplex and SF World Cinema in Central World. More than 80 films from around the world will be screened, including 19 from Thailand.

Opening the festival is “Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans," a remake of the 1992 film. This new version stars Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer.

Hollywood aside, festival highlights include Canada’s “I Killed My Mother,” Germany’s “Everyone Else”, Sweden’s “Mammoth” and “Spain’s Broken Embraces.”

The festival’s closer couldn’t be more fitting. “Sawasdee Bangkok", which received generally positive reviews at the recent Toronto Film Festival, will premiere in its full nine-segment form to end the festival.

BIFF, sponsored by the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and the Ministry of Culture, is no-doubt anxious to shake off the recent bad publicity.

This month, a U.S. court convicted Hollywood couple Gerald and Patricia Green of bribing former TAT governor Juthamas Siriwan for the contract to host the BKK IFF from 2003 to 2006. Thailand's National Counter Corruption Commission is now said to be investigating whether to lay charges against Juthamas and other officials.