June 5, 2003|For as small as the Aurora Asian Film Festival is, the event retains a degree of interest and relevance for its dedication to bringing art to the marginal East Colfax district, which for years was the reference point for drugs and prostitution in Denver. In the newly refurbished Fox Theater, in partnership with Starz and under the steady hand of the Denver Film Society, the sixth annual Asian Film Festival disappoints a bit for its line-up, given the absence of new films by "Beat" Takeshi and Takashi Miike (both completed and screened elsewhere), but impresses with the breadth of its Asian flavour. Films from Mainland China, Japan, and Hong Kong compete with submissions from Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, India, and South Korea while nightly food and entertainment events highlight various aspects of the diverse Pacific Rim. That being said, the pictures selected decline to push the envelope much in regards to substance and style, tending toward the "safe" and middlebrow when Asian cinema (particularly that of Japan and South Korea) is currently the most alternative and vibrant cinema in the world.

Nonetheless, opening with a whimsical social farce from China (25 Kids and One Dad) and closing with the Filipino submission for the 2002 Oscars (Small Voices), FILM FREAK CENTRAL is proud to provide our second year of coverage for this unique, for Denver, urban festival with the hope that as the festival continues to mature so matures its trust in its growing audience's willingness to dabble in the daring and the fringe.-Walter Chaw