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'Ping Pong' propaganda
Joe Nguyen, staff writer
June 5, 2006

Photo by Joe Nguyen Ariumbold Mijiddorj plays the morin khuur, a Mongolian stringed instrument, at the 9th Aurora Asian Film Festival.

AURORA – Potentially propagandistic “Ping Pong” headlined the second night of the 9th Aurora Asian Film Festival.

Dugar Hotala, a member of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center, passed out fliers to patrons who watched “Mongolian Ping Pong,” at the entrance of the Aurora Fox Arts Center.

“The [Inner] Mongolians are losing their identity [and] their culture,” he said. “ They’re ashamed of being Mongolian [and] speaking Mongolian in front of [the] Chinese.”

The flier says, thousands of Mongolians were accused of being traitors from the 1950s to the 80s. These Mongolians were tortured because “their hearts weren’t beating toward [the capital] Peking – and never will.”

Photo by Joe Nguyen Daniel Oh introduces the Korean film "The Bow," Friday at the 9th Aurora Asian Film Festival.

The actual movie drew a favorable response from the large audience. The film follows the tale of three boys who find a ping-pong ball by their homes in rural Mongolia.

“I was uncomfortable and ashamed,” Hotala said after the movie. “No one’s that stupid,” referring to the simple nature of the main characters.

Prior to the start of the film, Ariumbold Mijiddorj performed the morin khuur, a traditional Mongolian stringed instrument, to the audience.

The second film of the night, director Kim Ki-duk’s “The Bow,” is a story of a 60-year-old man, a 16-year-old girl and their relationship living on a boat. Though the crowd wasn’t as large as the first movie, most of the seats were filled.

The Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center's official Web site: http://www.smhric.org

Joe Nguyen is a staff writer for asiaXpress.com. You can reach Joe at joe@asiaxpress.com.