7th Aurora Asian Film Festival
By JOE NGUYEN, staff writer
June 4, 2004

As they have done in the past six years, the Aurora Asian/Pacific Community Partnership, in conjunction with the Denver Film Society and the City of Aurora, kicked off their 7th Aurora Asian Film Festival Thursday night at the Aurora Fox Arts Center. The festival will showcase 11 movies from nine distinct countries through the weekend.

In the main lobby of the theater is an art exhibition featuring works from the Colorado Korean Photography Association. Their exhibit entitled, “Images of Colorado”, reveals magnificent Colorado scenery as viewed by the artists.

Day One --
As people were coming into the theater, I found myself sitting in the reserved seats section saved for the sponsors. They were really nice seats though, so I stayed – probably to the chagrin of someone.

The night kicked off with the Mistress of Ceremonies, News 4 reporter Christina Yao, welcoming the movie patrons that were in attendance for opening night. The movie was Imelda, a documentary that details the life of the controversial and outspoken former Philippine first lady, Imelda Marcos. Present in the audience was the film’s director, Ramona Diaz who held a Q&A session after the movie ended.

Afterward, a gala was held at the plaza down the street. Those who stayed were offered cuisine from the Philippines, Thailand, Korea, Viet Nam and India as well as many Filipino themed entertainments. The first performance was music from the Note-ables International, a Filipino-American instrumental ensemble. This was followed by dances performed by the Filipino American Community of Colorado and finally a Philippine fashion show with members from the Philippine-American Society of Colorado. It was a very fun evening, but there’s definitely more to come in the following days.

Day Two --
The second day of the festival was not as crowded as the first, but that was to be expected. I got a chance to take a look at the photographs on exhibition from the Colorado Korean Photography Association. My favorite has to be the one they chose for the poster of the film festival. The colors are so much more vivid when you see the picture in person.

The first movie that was shown was Goodbye Dragon Inn, a feature from Taiwan directed by Tsai Ming-Liang. It’s an slow-paced, interesting movie that received mixed reviews from the audience. You either loved it or hated it.

The second film was Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s award winning Last Life in the Universe. It’s about two lonely people who are complete opposites, but are thrown together because of certain events. It’s a dark comedic drama, similar to something along the lines of Donnie Darko.

Festival Cont. >>