Western films set in Thailand up to now have all pretty much had the same characteristics: The stars are Westerners and Thailand is simply an exotic backdrop. Thai actors and actresses are all taxi drivers, gangsters or gogo girls.

Bitter/Sweet, which had its Thailand premiere in Phuket last night (June 11) as part of the Phuket Film Festival, deliberately sets out to break that mould.

Around 100 people turned up at the Royal Phuket Marina last night for the official opening party of the 2010 Phuket Film Festival. Most were the usual suspects from Phuket, but there was also a sprinkling of movie people from Bangkok, specially invited for the event, along with Italian, American and Indian movie people whose films are showing during the festival.

It’s taken a while, but Phuket now has its answer to Koh Pha Ngan’s full moon reputation – the Phuket Roy Fest. Granted, the Roy Fest is not every month, but it has big names that Pha Ngan would find it hard to match.

With six weeks to go, the 2010 Phuket Film Festival is taking shape nicely. At least 10 feature films are now confirmed for the festival, which kicks off on June 4 at the SFX Coliseum in Central Festival with a screening of India’s official entry in the 2009 Oscars, Harishchandrachi Factory.

Apparently undaunted by the way the 2009 Phuket Film Festival fizzled out, organiser Scott Rosenberg is gearing up for another go at it, and has issued a call for entries for the 2010 event.

The 11th annual Old Phuket Festival, which this year will run from February 19 to 21, promises a feast of free entertainment along with the chance to mingle with locals who will also be celebrating the Chinese New Year.

The Old Phuket Foundation will hold its fourth Local Life Festival on December 27, with Thalang Rd and Soi Romanee lit up, live music and huge amounts of local food and drinks. Admission is free.

Woaaah! Clapton’s going to play in Phuket. Yup, that’s right – Clapton, Richard Clapton. From Australia… Poor guy must get this all the time, which is actually unfair. In his native Oz, Richard’s been an icon for a long time, and some of his melodic rock songs are still on every Aussie FM station playlist.

The Loy Kratong Festival is a time to rid oneself of negative emotions and thoughts.

Unique, bizarre, yet strangely compelling, the annual Phuket Vegetarian Festival is almost upon us.