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2006 Pacific Rim Film Festival:
Intro | 'ESL' | 'Innocent Voices' | 'The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam' | 'The World'
Views from the Rim: This year's festival lineup includes China's 'Mongolian Pingpong.'
Worlds on Film
Santa Cruz's free Pacific Rim Film Festival returns with more worldly offerings
Mongolian children set out across the land of Genghis Khan on a pilgrimage to return a stray pingpong ball to China, the world's lowest-ranking soccer teams face off against each other, and Bollywood characters break out into song and dance routines with more insane gusto than Björk facing her doom in a Lars Von Trier film.
All of this, of course, can only mean the return of the Pacific Rim Film Festival, which once again brings a week of quality pancultural films to Santa Cruz, offering us opportunities to broaden our horizons and perhaps challenge old assumptions.
This year's screenings, which run Oct. 5-11, feature the work of filmmakers from China, the Netherlands, Thailand, India, Korea, Mexico and the USA. (There's even a film about surfing on the Great Lakes, which festival spokeswoman Ann Parker attributes to a "fairly relaxed view of what the Pacific Rim includes," while noting, of course, surfing's coastal origins.)
The entire festival, apart from the closing night benefit featuring Hawaiian filmmakers Eddie and Myrna Kamae, is once again presented free of charge.
In this issue, Metro Santa Cruz looks at films and talks to directors who will be making personal appearances at this year's festival. For a complete listing of films, including synopses and schedules, visit www.pacificrimfilmfestival.org.
Thursday, Oct. 5
Henry J. Mello Center, 250 E. Beach St.,Watsonville
Pawns of the King (USA) 6:30pm
Sponsored by Watsonville/Santa Cruz JACL
ESL (USA) 7pm
Filmmaker Youssef Delara in person
Friday, Oct. 6
Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz
Mongolian Ping Pong (China) 7pm
Sponsored by Five Branches Institute
Shower (China) 9:45pm
Saturday, Oct. 7
Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz
Mongolian Ping Pong (China) 1pm
The World (China)
3:30pm
Sponsored by University Inn & Conference Center
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
(Canada) 7pm
Filmmaker Anne Marie Fleming in person
Sponsored by Bay Backhoe and Castro & Howe Construction
The Overture
(Thailand) 9:30pm
Sponsored by Porter College, UCSC
Sunday, Oct. 8
Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz
Mongolian Ping Pong (China) 1pm
Shower (China) 3:30pm
Sponsored by Five Branches Institute
Rang De Basanti (India) 7pm
Sponsored by Staff of Life
———
UCSC Media Theater, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz
ESL (USA) 2pm
Sponsored by University Inn & Conference Center
Filmmaker Youssef Delara in person
Unsalted (USA) 4:30pm
Sponsored by KUSP Public Radio
The Overture (Thailand) 6pm
Sponsored by Porter College, UCSC
———
Cabrillo College Watsonville Center, 318 Union St., Watsonville
The Other Final (Netherlands) 7pm
Sponsored by
Bogard Construction
Monday, Oct. 9
Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz
Rang De Basanti (India) 1pm
Sponsored by Staff of Life
The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam
(Canada) 4pm
Innocent Voices (Mexico) 7pm
Filmmaker Oscar Torres in person
Sponsored by Arnoldo Gil-Osorio, Century 21-Arrowhead
Tuesday, Oct. 10
Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz
The Other Final (Netherlands) 1pm
Sponsored by Bogard Construction
A State of Mind (Korea) 3pm
Unsalted (USA) 5pm
Filmmaker Vince Deur in person
Sponsored by KUSP Public Radio
Big Drum (USA) 7pm
Filmmaker Akira Boch in person
Sponsored by Watsonville/Santa Cruz JACL
Watsonville Taiko performance before the film
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