Thai capital is staging, in a week starting from Wednesday, a bunch of hilarious movies from 25 countries in the first-ever international comedy film festival in Asia, hopefully to create an joyful atmosphere amid the continuing global and domestic economic crisis, said one of its organizers in the opening ceremony.

Weerasak Kowsurat, Chairman of the Tourism Authority of Thailand that co-organized the 2009 World Comedy Film Festival, told Xinhua, "The event tonight is not only benefiting the Thai tourist industry and the Thai comedian film industry as well, but also we are presenting a showcase of a lot of comedy movies from around the world. In this event, we are sure there will be connectivities, and also discussion and learning of crossed culture,because laugh comes from different ways of looking at things from different culture and language. "

The opening ceremony in Siam Paragon shopping center witnessed some most popular Thai movies stars and tens of overseas movie celebrities walking the red-carpet, and among the Hollywood stars was Verne Troyer, who is most recognized for acting as "Mini Me" in the hilarious Austin Powers (1999).

Talking about the festival, Troyer, who drove his way through along the red-carpet on a mini-scooter, said, "I hope everything goes good...I think it'll be fun."

With the theme "A day without laughter is a day wasted" -- by legendary comedian Charlie Chaplin, the festival from June 10 to 16 will offer audience altogether 50 comedies and 14 short films. There are 20 films from Asian countries, including China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and the Philippines; 20 films from Europe and the U.S., along with 10 Thai classic and contemporary films.

The opening film was Singaporean box-office smasher A Wedding Game, directed by the international acclaimed Thai filmmaker Ekachai Uekrongtham and starring the famous Asian couple, Christopher Lee and Fann Wong, and the closing movie will be Hongkong's "You Long Xi Feng".

According to the organizer, this is the first international comedy film festival in Asian area ever.