THE COLORADO DRAGON BOAT FILM FESTIVAL
  • Home
  • About / Contact
  • 2023 Raffle
  • 2023 Program
    • 2023 Community Conversations >
      • 3/11 - Celebrating the Stories of our LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islander Community
      • 3/12 - Celebrating the Stories of our Multiracial AAPI Community
    • 2023 Short Films Showcase >
      • Amache Rose
      • Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya Findings
      • Dirty Rotten Tofu and the Gohan Girls
      • One Fine Day
      • Paddles on the Water
      • Soon
      • Thread
    • 2023 Emerging Artists Showcase >
      • 1992
      • Daruma
      • Esperanza
      • it's in the cards, fatherhood
      • My Grandpa Says He's an Alien
      • The Pomegranate Tree
      • The Waterspout
      • Yesterday I Was the Moon
  • Sponsors / Donors
  • Previous Programs
    • 2022 Program >
      • 2022 Community Conversations >
        • 3/5 - CAPU
        • 3/6 - AGI
      • 2022 Short Films Showcase >
        • #AsianAmResilience Microdocs
        • good enough
        • In Wake of the Crashing Dawn
        • Projections
        • Charlie
        • Desert Lotus
        • Ara, Untamed
        • My Name is not Amy
      • 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Sino Ako
        • All Mine
        • Winter Glass Glare
        • Core
        • Maa
        • Heart Sutra
    • 2021 Program >
      • 2021 Short Film Showcase >
        • #AsianAMCovidStories
        • Duo Pandemia
        • Mastery I & II
        • Ib Tsug 13 Hnub
        • Ntuj Tsim Txom
        • Mechamorphosis
        • The 3 Day Nun
        • The Loyal Betrayal
        • Voices
      • 2021 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Check Box: Other
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter >
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S2
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S1
        • Safe
        • In the Spotlight
    • 2020 Program >
      • Digital Program Book
      • 2020 Creative Conversations >
        • 2/21 - Best Tasting Wild Foods of Colorado​
        • 2/22 - Health & Mental Health
        • 2/22 - Mushroom Foraging 101
      • 2020 Asian American Documentaries >
        • Palliative
        • Love Boat: Taiwan
      • 2020 Colorado Showcase >
        • The Rock Within
        • Ma
        • For Tashi
        • people (of water)
        • Not Pictured
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
      • Ang Larawan (The Portrait)
      • Asian American Artist Showcase
    • 2019 Program >
      • 2019 Film Shorts >
        • Runner
        • Tears of the Sky
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
        • My Escape
      • 2019 CU Denver Showcase >
        • Three Worlds One Stage
        • Virtual Mandala
      • 2019 Festival Talkbacks >
        • Creative Leadership Talkback
        • CU Filmmaker Q&A
        • Film Industry Talkback
    • 2018 Program
    • 2017 Program >
      • Taipei Story
      • The Last Princess
      • Mid-Length Films Block
      • Ten Years
      • What's in the Darkness
      • Millennium Actress
      • The Future Perfect
      • Youth of the Beast
      • Being Good
      • Heart Attack
      • Bloody Dairy
      • Bruce Takes Dragon Town
      • Cowboy and Indian
      • Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story
      • Ho Chi Minh Kim Chi
      • Mango Sticky Rice
      • Night-Fly
      • Sumo Road - The Musical
      • Threads - The Art and Life of Surayia Rahman
      • Twenty Years
    • 2016 Program >
      • Wolf Children
      • Uzumasa Limelight
      • Changing Season
      • Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
      • Awesome Asian Bad Guys
      • Off the Menu: Asian America
      • Winning Girl
  • New Page

Purchase your All Access Passes HERE!

Individual Tickets HERE!

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Locations: Denver Sie FilmCenter &
​ Denver Botanic Gardens


Opening Film: Arnold is a Model Student
Thursday, March 9th, 2023 

Opening Night Reception: 6:00 PM
​Catering by Yuan Wonton! 
Film: 7:00 PM

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Thailand | 2022 | 85 min 
​Language: Thai with English Subtitles
​FAMILY FRIENDLY FILM

Arnold is a clever student who has won many academic awards. One day, he meets Bee who runs an underground business helping students cheat on their exams. Bee asks Arnold to join his cheating ring and offers him a lot of money. While Arnold considers working with Bee, many of his schoolmates, unhappy with their school’s disrespect of their freedom, organize a big protest.

Director/Screenwriter  
Sorayos Prapapan

Starring
Korndanai Marc Dautzenberg, Siriboon Naddhabhan, Winyu Wongsurawat

Country
Thailand, Singapore, France, Netherlands, Philippines
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Get Tickets!

Closing Night Film: I Am What I Am
Sunday, March 12th, 202
3

Location: Denver Botanic Gardens
​
Film: 4:00 PM
Closing Night Reception Following Film


Desserts from Celestial Bakery
Lion Dance Performance from Shaolin Hung Mei Kung Fu

CHINA I 2021 I 104 minutes 
Language
: Cantonese, Mandarin with English Subtitles

​The animated comedy film I Am What I Am tells the story of three left-behind teenagers - Gyun, Kat and Doggie - from a small village in Guangdong, where they’ve been ignored and bullied by others and decide to join a group of lion dance. They finally realize their dreams and become their own lions with their youthful passion and all-around drive.

Director
Sun Haipeng

Cast
Xin Li, Hao Guo, Meng Li
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Get Tickets!

 

FILM LINEUP
​FRIDAY MARCH 10TH, 2023


Reclaiming Denver's Chinatown
USA Colorado / 51 minutes / Family Friendly
Language: English

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FRIDAY, MARCH 10TH, 2023
​2:00 PM 

Synopsis
Chinese immigrants made a home in Denver a decade after the city’s founding and were instrumental in completing the transcontinental railroad. They survived in spite of racist policies that relegated them to a place and a station. So why doesn’t Denver have a Chinatown? In Reclaiming Denver’s Chinatown, an #IAmDenver documentary from the Denver Office of Storytelling, their descendants recall with pride their ancestors’ contributions and reject the notion that one tragic day in 1880 defined their community.

Directors
Roxana A. Soto, Emily Maxwell


Get Tickets!

 

Ajoomma
Singapore & South Korea/ 90 minutes / Family Friendly
Language:
 English, Mandarin, Korean

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​FRIDAY, MARCH 10TH, 2023
​3:45 PM 

​Synopsis
A middle-aged, Korean-drama obsessed widow from Singapore travels out of the country for the first time to Seoul, and ends up getting lost. Her journey becomes an unexpected road of self discovery, as she comes to terms with the life she truly wants for herself, beyond her roles of daughter, wife and mother.

Director
He Shuming

Cast
Hong Huifang, Kang Hyung-suk, Jung Dong-hwan



Get Tickets!

​Culinary Experience/Reception

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​​FRIDAY, MARCH 10TH, 2023
6:00 PM - 7:00 PM

We invite you to join us for our Festival Culinary Experience where guests will sample food and drinks celebrating a variety of cuisines in the Sie FilmCenter lobby.


GET TICKETS!

 

Big Fight in Little Chinatown
Canada/ 88 minutes / Documentary / Family Friendly
Language:
English, French, Mandarin

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FRIDAY, MARCH 10TH, 2023
​7:00 PM 

Synopsis
Big Fight in Little Chinatown is a story of community resistance and resilience. Set against the backdrop of the COVID pandemic and an unprecedented rise in anti-Asian racism, the documentary takes us into the lives of residents, businesses and community organizers whose neighborhoods are facing active erasure.

Coast to Coast the film follows Chinatown communities resisting the pressures around them. From the construction of the world’s largest vertical jail in New York, Montreal’s fight against developers swallowing up the most historic block of their Chinatown, big box chains and gentrification forces displacing Toronto’s community, to a Vancouver Chinatown business holding steadfast, the film reveals how Chinatown is both a stand-in for other communities who’ve been wiped off the city map, and the blueprint for inclusive and resilient neighborhoods of the future.

Director
Karen Cho

Stay after the film for a Q&A with the director!
​

Get Tickets!

FILM LINEUP
​SATURDAY MARCH 11TH, 2023


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2023 Community Conversation

Celebrating the Stories of our LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islander Community


11:00 AM - 11:45 AM

Denver Sie Center House 1
2510 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206

Event Information

Short Films Showcase
USA/ 120 minutes / Short Films
Language: English 
​

SATURDAY, MARCH 11TH, 2023
​11:00 AM

​We are excited to showcase 7 short films from local filmmakers all over the USA.
​
​Check out the link for more information on all of these amazing films and filmmakers!
SHORT FILMS SHOWCASE
Get Tickets!

RRR
India/ 182 minutes / Family Friendly
Language:  English, Telugu

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SATURDAY, MARCH 11TH, 2023
1​2:30 PM

Synopsis
The biggest film of the decade is back on the big screen where it belongs! RRR is an exhilarating, action-packed spectacular mythologizing two real-life freedom fighters who helped lead India’s fight for independence from the British Raj, Komaram Bheem (N.T Rama Rao Jr., aka Jr NTR) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan). Set in the 1920s before their fight for India’s independence began, RRR imagines a fictional meeting between the two, set into motion when a young Gond girl is stolen from her village by British soldiers.

With staggeringly choreographed action sequences, an all-timer of a musical number, and a powerful story, RRR is pure big screen joy from start to finish. Audiences across the world have been won over, it's a great big party, and you're invited- come join!

​Director/ Screenwriter
S. S. Rajamouli

Cast

N. T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Alia Bhatt
Get Tickets!

 

My Best Friend's Breakfast
​Taiwan/ 119 minutes / Family Friendly
Language: Mandarin (English Subtitles) 

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SATURDAY, MARCH 11TH, 2023
​1:45 PM

Synopsis
Xiang Wei Xin, a 17-year-old high school sophomore, regards eating as the most important and most healing thing in life. The first time she met her senior Tao You Quan was in the school’s welfare agency. At that time, Xiang Wei Xin lost 5 yuan and could not buy her favorite pineapple bread. Tao You Quan made up the money for her, which made her feel deeply indebted to her. The next day, she saw a breakup scene by the school’s swimming pool. She broke up with her cheating girlfriend but couldn’t separate it. Xiang Wei moved her heart and used her best friend Fang Qi Ran as an excuse to let Tao You Quan break up successfully. She believed that she was brave and repaid.

​
Director
Ryan Tu

Cast
Eric Chou, Moon Lee, Jean Ho
Ryan Tu
Get Tickets!

A Mother's Touch
​​Japan/ 113 minutes / Based on a True Story
​Language: Japanese with English Subtitles

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SATURDAY, MARCH 11TH, 2023
​4:30 PM

Synopsis
Satoshi loses his eyesight completely at the age of 9 despite numerous surgeries, but grows up with a cheerful spirit thanks to his mother Reiko’s unconditional love. Surrounded by affection and friendship at high school, Satoshi’s future seems bright until one day his family realizes that he is losing his hearing as well. Determined to never give up, Reiko tries everything she can to give him a hope. Inspiring true story of a mother and son, who became the first blind and deaf professor in the world - Satoshi Fukushima.

Director
​
Junpei Matsumoto

Cast
Koyuki, Taketo Tanaka, Hisashi Yoshizawa
Get Tickets!

Far Far Away
Hong Kong/ 100 minutes / Family Friendly
​Language: Cantonese with English Subtitles
​

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​SATURDAY, MARCH 11TH, 2023
​7:15 PM

Synopsis
​​A 28-year-old IT geek, Hau, is a mediocre but warm-hearted introvert, who suddenly finds himself the object of affection for five attractive women within the same year. The quintet share virtually no similar traits except one quirky thing: they all live in remote corners of Hong Kong. Seeing our heartthrob’s struggles in getting there’s half the fun, though; all that travelling allows director Amos Why to offer his audience a chance to see and appreciate parts of the city they rarely get to experience.

Director/ Screenwriter
Amos Why
​
Cast
Kaki Sham, Cecilia So, Jennifer Yu
Amos Why
Get Tickets!

FILM LINEUP
​SUNDAY MARCH 12TH, 2023


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2023 Community Conversation

Celebrating the Stories of our Multiracial AAPI Community 


11:00 AM - 11:45 AM

Denver Sie Center House 1
2510 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO 80206

Event Information

Emerging Artists Showcase
USA/ 120 minutes / Short Films/ Family Friendly

SUNDAY, MARCH 12TH, 2023
NOON

We are excited to showcase the amazing films from our Emerging Artists!  Don't miss this year's contributions.

​For more information on each of these films click on the button below.  
​
Short Films Showcase
Get Tickets!

Contact Us

  • Home
  • About / Contact
  • 2023 Raffle
  • 2023 Program
    • 2023 Community Conversations >
      • 3/11 - Celebrating the Stories of our LGBTQ+ Asian American Pacific Islander Community
      • 3/12 - Celebrating the Stories of our Multiracial AAPI Community
    • 2023 Short Films Showcase >
      • Amache Rose
      • Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya Findings
      • Dirty Rotten Tofu and the Gohan Girls
      • One Fine Day
      • Paddles on the Water
      • Soon
      • Thread
    • 2023 Emerging Artists Showcase >
      • 1992
      • Daruma
      • Esperanza
      • it's in the cards, fatherhood
      • My Grandpa Says He's an Alien
      • The Pomegranate Tree
      • The Waterspout
      • Yesterday I Was the Moon
  • Sponsors / Donors
  • Previous Programs
    • 2022 Program >
      • 2022 Community Conversations >
        • 3/5 - CAPU
        • 3/6 - AGI
      • 2022 Short Films Showcase >
        • #AsianAmResilience Microdocs
        • good enough
        • In Wake of the Crashing Dawn
        • Projections
        • Charlie
        • Desert Lotus
        • Ara, Untamed
        • My Name is not Amy
      • 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Sino Ako
        • All Mine
        • Winter Glass Glare
        • Core
        • Maa
        • Heart Sutra
    • 2021 Program >
      • 2021 Short Film Showcase >
        • #AsianAMCovidStories
        • Duo Pandemia
        • Mastery I & II
        • Ib Tsug 13 Hnub
        • Ntuj Tsim Txom
        • Mechamorphosis
        • The 3 Day Nun
        • The Loyal Betrayal
        • Voices
      • 2021 Emerging Artists Showcase >
        • Check Box: Other
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter >
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S2
          • I Put the Bi in Bitter S1
        • Safe
        • In the Spotlight
    • 2020 Program >
      • Digital Program Book
      • 2020 Creative Conversations >
        • 2/21 - Best Tasting Wild Foods of Colorado​
        • 2/22 - Health & Mental Health
        • 2/22 - Mushroom Foraging 101
      • 2020 Asian American Documentaries >
        • Palliative
        • Love Boat: Taiwan
      • 2020 Colorado Showcase >
        • The Rock Within
        • Ma
        • For Tashi
        • people (of water)
        • Not Pictured
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
      • Ang Larawan (The Portrait)
      • Asian American Artist Showcase
    • 2019 Program >
      • 2019 Film Shorts >
        • Runner
        • Tears of the Sky
        • I Put the Bi in Bitter
        • My Escape
      • 2019 CU Denver Showcase >
        • Three Worlds One Stage
        • Virtual Mandala
      • 2019 Festival Talkbacks >
        • Creative Leadership Talkback
        • CU Filmmaker Q&A
        • Film Industry Talkback
    • 2018 Program
    • 2017 Program >
      • Taipei Story
      • The Last Princess
      • Mid-Length Films Block
      • Ten Years
      • What's in the Darkness
      • Millennium Actress
      • The Future Perfect
      • Youth of the Beast
      • Being Good
      • Heart Attack
      • Bloody Dairy
      • Bruce Takes Dragon Town
      • Cowboy and Indian
      • Dancing Through Life: The Dorothy Toy Story
      • Ho Chi Minh Kim Chi
      • Mango Sticky Rice
      • Night-Fly
      • Sumo Road - The Musical
      • Threads - The Art and Life of Surayia Rahman
      • Twenty Years
    • 2016 Program >
      • Wolf Children
      • Uzumasa Limelight
      • Changing Season
      • Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
      • Awesome Asian Bad Guys
      • Off the Menu: Asian America
      • Winning Girl
  • New Page