Two and a half weeks after one of the worst natural disasters in the region's history seemed the wrong time to go to a film festival there, but when the Bangkok International Film Festival decided to go ahead as scheduled, and to donate part of the ticket proceeds to the relief effort, it seemed impossible to refuse the invitation to show a film I had directed. Which is why I found myself recently flying the nearly 24 hours from New York to Bangkok, where I arrived just as the festival was getting under way.