Film festival graft

This is the most incredible festival related news story I have seen all year. Apparently a US couple tried to bribe the Thailand Tourism commission to win the managing contract of this international film festival. The Bangkok International Film Festival is one of the biggest events of its kind in Asia and has been held annually since 2002.

To me this is the most damning evidence yet of film festivals being potentially too large and becoming more commercial prospects than cultural events. Much more so than the recent complaints about Sundance having an online store.