Beautiful Boxer wins GRAND PRIX in Brussels

Beautiful Boxer was named winner of The Grand Prix 2004 Award on Sunday 7 November in the Capital of Europe.
Said Marc Lobet, President of the International Jury at the Award Ceremony held at the Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, “Quite remarkably, the winner of the Grand Prix Award this year was decided in record time. It’s rare that all the jury members were so unanimous and passionate about the same film.” The Grand Prix Toutes Categories (Grand Award All Categories) presented to Beautiful Boxer was bestowed by Marie-Dominique Simonet, Minister of International Relations of the French-speaking part of Belgium.



Thai director named Emerging Talent in L.A.
 
The L.A. Outfest, Southern California's largest film festival presented Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham with the Emerging Talent Award last month. His feature film debut Beautiful Boxer was an official selection at the 22nd Annual Gay & Lesbian Film Festival where the film attracted wide critical acclaim with L.A. Times calling it "a deeply affecting odyssey". This is the sixth film award for Beautiful Boxer. The film was nominated for 13 Thai Academy Awards early this year and won two (Best Actor - Asanee Suwan and Best Makeup Design). Beautiful Boxer also won Best Feature Film prizes at international film festivals in Torino and Milan. More recently, the film won the Jury Prize at the Skieve Filmer International Film Festival in Norway. In addition, it was one of the top three highest rated films in the People's Choice Poll held in conjunction with this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival.
 
Regent Entertainment, the studio that made the Oscar-winning film Gods & Monsters has picked up the North American and Canadian rights of Beautiful Boxer and will release it in theatres this fall through here! Films and Regent Releasing. In the U.K., the film was picked up for distribution by Metro Tartan Films. Golden Harvest/Panasia secured the rights for Hong Kong territory, the theatrical release of which will commence there next weekend. This will be followed by the Spanish theatrical release by Lauren Films. Beautiful Boxer opened in cinemas across Malaysia and garnered unanimously rave reviews. The film has also opened to wide critical acclaim and record-breaking box office figures in Singapore. It's now scheduled to hit more than 200 cities in Europe, Asia, Australia and the U.S. during the next few months. The worldwide sales for Beautiful Boxer are handled by Arclight Films. The company has sold the film to nearly 20 countries worldwide.
 
An action drama based on the true story of Thailand's famed transgender kickboxer, Beautiful Boxer was made at GMM Pictures, the film arm of Thailand's largest entertainment conglomerate GMM Grammy Public Company Limited.

After being officially selected for the 54th Berlin International Film Festival where the film played to full houses and wide critical acclaim, Beautiful Boxer then kicked into Rome when the film was picked and invited to be part of the first-ever Berlin in Rome (Berlino a Roma). A special event featuring selected films from this year's Berlin International Film Festival, Berlin in Rome was presented by the City of Rome and featured eleven films from the Berlin Festival. The screenings took place at the Rome's Auditorium - Parco della Musica in March. Beautiful Boxer is the only Thai film chosen for the programme.
 
After Rome, Beautiful Boxer will be screened at this month's 28th Hong Kong International Film Festival and the 47th San Francisco International Film Festival. At the invitation of the two Festivals, director Ekachai Uekrongtham will be in both cities to attend the screenings.
 
 
In between Hong Kong and San Francisco, Beautiful Boxer had its Gala Premiere in Singapore on 14th of April at the Lido Theatre - with Singapore Prime Minister's wife Mrs Goh Chok Tong as the evening's Guest of Honour. Nong Toom, whose life the film was based upon; Asanee Suwan, the real-life kickboxing champ who plays her in the film; and the director were present at the Premiere. Proceeds from this screening went to the aid of Action Theatre, one of Singapore's premier not-for-profit professional theatre companies.
 

Singapore is the first country where the film will launch its international theatrical release. This will be followed by theatrical releases in the United States and other countries in Europe and Asia-Pacific.