Myanmar has put off the hosting of an ASEAN film festival in Yangon to next month, which was originally scheduled to start on Monday for a week, local media reported Monday.

The postponement was due to delayed arrival of film copies from participating regional member countries, the Weekly Eleven News said, without giving specific re-set date.

The first ever film festival of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had been planned in Myanmar to mark the association's 40th anniversary, it said. Except Brunei, Laos and Cambodia, all other member countries were to take part in the regional film festival.

According to the report, film copies from Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia to be screened at the festival have already arrived.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Myanmar has organized several foreign film festivals in the country in recent years, including those from China, Japan and South Korea under respective cultural exchange programs with these countries.

In June this year, a European film festival was held in Yangon to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the EU, bringing in films produced by Italy, England, Germany and France.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2007)