Film fest fades to black

Departing sponsors, stagnant numbers kills 2008 Aurora Asian Film Festival

By Joe Nguyen, AsiaXpress.com

Dec. 19, 2007

AURORA – After 10 years, it appears the curtain has fallen on the Aurora Asian Film Festival.

The Aurora Asian/Pacific Community Partnership recently announced its decision to suspend its annual film festival for 2008 because of departing sponsors, a lack of volunteers and stagnant attendance.

“We lost Coors and then the year prior, we lost American Family (Insurance),” said Chuck Hahn, acting small business coordinator for the City of Aurora and acting co-chair of the AAPCP during this year's festival. “Those were two major sponsors.”

In addition to losing sponsors, the Denver Film Society decided to stop collaborating with the partnership this fall in order to focus its energy on the Starz FilmCenter and the Starz Denver Film Festival, according to Brit Withey, program director at the DFS.

“When we started this festival with the city, we didn't have the Starz FilmCenter,” Withey said. “We were sort of incubating a number of small film festivals. This was the last one where we had hands-on collaboration.”

He said that many of these small festivals, such as the Jewish Film Festival and the Pan-African Film Festival, have continued on after the DFS stopped collaborating with them. But added that he was disappointed in learning that this festival won't be around next year.

“I loved the Aurora Asian Film Festival,” he said. “It had such a great energy and vibe.”

The partnership tried to stimulate more attendance last year with increased marketing efforts such as reaching out to various Asian-American publications and cross promoting with the East Ends Art District's annual Summer Art Walk, said City of Aurora Administrative Specialist Frankie Anderson.

“Attendance was still stagnant,” Anderson said. “Which isn't bad. We felt like we had a great crowd and well-attended movies, but we weren't able to sell out.”

She added that while the city remains completely committed to the partnership, it cannot put more personnel, money or time into the festival until there's a real show of support from the community.

“(One of the reasons) is the enormous effort it takes to pull off this event, and we have had the same core volunteer base for several years,” AAPCP Co-Chair Elect Harvey Lee said in an e-mail sent to the partnership's steering committee. “Ths is one area where burnout is a significant reason.”

Kim Harrell, of East End Applied Arts, said it's sad that the festival is suspended for 2008 because it was fun to cross promote the festival with the summer art walk.

“Aurora's so diverse, it's fun to have a focus on one particular part of the community,” she said.

With the canceling of the festival, Harrell said the summer art walk will probably return to its traditional time near the solstice.

In addition to the suspension of the film festival, the AAPCP will also skip its annual Asian Education Awards this year. The intent is to create collaborative awards in 2009 with other cities and school districts in the Denver metro area, Lee said in his e-mail.

“You got all these little pools and if we put them together, maybe we can do more for the students,” Hahn said. “It's just another event that makes all the sense in the world. It would probably be more efficient if we had more organizations working on it.”

As for the film festival, the outlook isn't as bright.

Anderson said that while the partnership is looking for different sponsors and collaborators, it's considering alternatives such as promoting Asian films at the Starz Denver Film Festival.

“The idea right now is trying to reinvent the wheel a little bit and see what else we can do,” she said, “and still showcase Asian film and the culture.”

Joe Nguyen is the editor in chief of AsiaXpress.com. He can be reached via e-mail at joe (at) asiaxpress.com.