Nation Multimedia Group, a media company based in Thailand, organised the first Bangkok Film Festival in the country in 1998.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand became the main organizer and changed the name to the Bangkok International Film Festival.

The Retrospective presented the works of Fritz Lang, Satyajit Ray, Jean Cocteau and Werner Herzog along with screening of more than 10 Indian films.

The jurors included Jiří Menzel, a Czech film legend and Naowarat Pongpaiboon, a Thai National Artist in Literature Art.

It also held a workshop on fund raising for new film projects with the support of the Festival of Three Continents from Nantes, France and Produire Au Sud.

It included the works of a number of Thai directors, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Thunska Pansittivorakul, Pramote Sangsorn, Lek Manont, Naowarat Saowanich, Pipope Panitchpakdi, Santi Taepanich, Pimpaka Towira, Somkid Thamniamdi, Sompot Chidgasornpongse and Suchada Sirithanawuddhi and Christelle Lheureux from France, Folke Ryden from Sweden and Margaret Bong Chew Jen from Malaysia.

Highlights in 2005 included the special guest and Academy Award-winning Polish film director Roman Polanski, who attended the festival for the Lotus Award presentation.

War and Peace, a seven-hour epic film based on the eponymous book, was shown and attracted great interest.

The festival opened with the Chinese big-budget movie The Banquet from the director Feng Xiaogang before its wide release in Thailand.

The festival continued to retain its emphasis on vigorous and enthusiastic international films from various cultures, together with special activities.

Held at Siam Paragon, it opened with the romantic drama A Moment in June, which had been the first film selected from the Produire Au Sud Bangkok workshop.

[1] With an emphasis on predominantly independent films from mostly emerging directors, the festival's competition section is the Harvest of Talents.

Special guests included Polish poster designer Rafal Olbinski, who also was on the Harvest of Talents jury.

The festival opened with the Chinese film The Banquet and closed with the Russian silent classic The Battleship Potemkin.

The opening film was Genghis Khan: To the Ends of the Earth and Sea, a Japanese-Mongolian co-production directed by Shinichiro Sawai, who was present for the screening.

[4] Jury members were German cinematographer-director Fred Kelemen, Thai director Ittisoontorn Vichailak, Bangkok-based Danish painter Elizabeth Romhild, Thai critic Niwat Kongpian and Kulthep Narula, executive director of Benetone Film Company.

Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light was the closing film, shown outdoors in a rock concert-like setting.

The festival opened with The Rocket and closed with the Thai film By the River (สายน้ำติดเชื้อ : Sai Nam Tid Shoer) directed by Nontawat Numbenchapol.

Lotus Award: Oliver Stone This latest edition of World Film Festival of Bangkok held from December 2–11, 2022.

Lotus Award for Best Film: Klondike (Ukraine, 2022), directed by Maryna Er Gorbach[8] Best Director: Have You Seen This Woman?