2024 Emerging 

Artist Showcase

Roma Sur

Roma Sur is a screenwriter, filmmaker, and an educator at the University of Denver, where she teaches Scriptwriting and Film Production. She writes young adult and female driven dramas with levity. Sur was recently featured in Marquis Who's Who of America 125th edition, for excellence in arts and entertainment. She is currently on the Executive committee of @Womanhood_theseries Season 2. She loves her role on the Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival programming committee, as it is a wonderful way of giving back to the Colorado community through cinema that celebrates her AANHPI roots.

https://www.surcreations.com/

EMERGING ARTIST FILMS
Run Time: 2 hrs


A Roadside Banquet

Crew: Director: Peiqi Peng, Writer: Peiqi Peng, Producer: Ziqi Gao, Cinematographer: Tianyi Liu, Production Designer: Ye "Yara" Wang & Yijie "EJ" Li, Editor: Christine Ho, Composer: Siyi Chen & Yusi Liu

Cast: Mai: Sarah Zhai, Meilin: Eon Song, Lijun: Jizhong Zhang, Di: Anderson Su & Spencer Su

Synopsis

During her little brother’s first birthday party, 11-year-old Mai’s light-hearted world is shaken, when she gradually realizes everyone there only has eyes for her baby brother.

Wanting not to be ignored, Mai follows her mother to the main table, but during their chit-chat, Mai’s mother reveals casually that the family always only wanted a boy. Mai is devastated, when a strange sensation takes over her, and turns her into a feather duster. 

Later, the family gathers to play the game of ‘Grab’—the baby picks an object from a pile and predicts his future occupation. The baby grabs the feather duster. Mai reappears, but only the baby can see her. Mai hugs her brother. Everyone else laughs, takes the duster away, and continues with the game.

Director’s Bio:

Peiqi Peng is a Chinese writer/director living in Los Angeles, with a BFA in Film & Post-Colonial Studies from Emerson College and an MFA in Directing from the American Film Institute. A child fantasy writer that later studied Sociology, Peiqi does socially conscious female dramas with fantasy, gore, and absurdist elements. Her narrative shorts have been screened at festivals, including Cleveland International Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Chinese American Film Festival, and L.A. Shorts. A semi-finalist in the ScreenCraft Film Fund Competition, Peiqi did script development work for FilmNation, Partizan, and Imagine Entertainment.

Director’s Statement:

When I was in elementary school, my parents were seriously considering having another child. I was very against it. One day at a restaurant, trying to convince me, my mom told me the day she birthed me, my father was so disappointed I was a girl, he couldn’t talk for an hour. She said it so casually, but I immediately came to tears, and it changed my relationship with my father forever. For a very long time, Chinese families were banned to test the gender of their unborn baby, because many of them will take an abortion over having a girl as their only child. It felt like I might not be born if they knew I was a girl. 

As the One Child policy loosens in the 2010s, many Chinese families chose to have another child, and the majority of those born were boys. An entire generation of Chinese girls had a very young baby brother when they were teenagers or adults. Many of these girls were expected to take care of their baby brothers for the rest of their lives.

A Roadside Banquet is a story about them, and every child who seek the unconditional love that their parents can no longer give. Underneath the joyfulness of the banquet and the magical twist of the duster is a story about being a girl—and sometimes, being overlooked and sidelined. Minimized into a supporting role, into domesticity, into something as unremarkable as a feather duster.

Exploring Indian Spices

'Exploring Indian Spices' is a short film made entirely on iPhone, in Mumbai, India. It was part of the @du.hashtagbollywood, a winter inter-term collaborative class between the University of Denver and Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. The film was co-created by students at both universities. 

The film was shot at the historical Lalbaug Spice Market, in Mumbai, which is the hub of all the raw spices, before they are distributed throughout Mumbai to restaurants and retail stores. The film explores some of the most common spices used in Indian curries, and the dishes they are most commonly used in. From there, the film takes us inside the kitchen of Bonito Fine Dine, a popular restaurant in North Mumbai. 

Follow my Drone videography account on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/west_lense/

Sage Hammer is a third year film student at CU Denver. He focuses on Cinematography and Production Design.

Charles Dylan West is a Communication major with a minor in Media and Film, at the University of Denver. When he's not hitting the slopes for some thrilling skiing, he is exploring cultures through his lens. An avid traveler, he loves making films on travel and international cuisine. "Food is something that connects cultures all over the world," he says. Outside of photography and videography, he loves flying his drone to showcase the world from a unique perspective. Whether it's the adrenaline of skiing or the joy of capturing moments, his journey revolves around blending adventure, creativity, and effective communication 

Have You Eaten Yet? 

A documentary film following a local bakery that explores how we express love through food. Following Kha and Thoa, the daughters of Vietnamese immigrants and restaurant business owners, they reflect on how their upbringing and relationship with food and culture has made them into who they are today.

Filmmaker Bios

Lights of Change: Sustainable Bollywood

My documentaries fits directly to the theme “connecting through cultures” from the way it was produced as well as the content it shows. Regarding the latter, the topic - sustainability in the Indian film industry - highly dives into the particular aspects rooted in Indian culture, what Bollywood can do to become more sustainable friendly. Additionally, preventing climate change is definitely a topic that demands the whole world to connect and work together. Above that, in the film we talk about intercultural collaborations for instance within India Green Sets, exchanging and culturally adapting best-fit practices globally from Canada, US and India.The mode of production of this documentary directly mirrors cultural connections. It was produced during a short interterm-class which is based on a collaboration between Whistling Woods International and the University of Denver. Being in India, immersing myself in the culture and connecting to faculty and student at this prestigious film university was an incredible experience and made the production of this documentary genuinely intercultural.

Ryan Wardak is a writer/producer, who has worked in both narrative and non-fiction formats in the past. Ryan thrives on telling stories that aren’t just unique in its storytelling, but what the film means to ourselves and the people we share our work with. 

Ayla Perez is a local Asian American and Hispanic filmmaker. Growing up in a mixed family, she knows firsthand how love isn’t expressed through words, but rather with the phrase “Have You Eaten Yet?”.  Food has always been one of the driving forces of her life and she loves highlighting it in her films.  As a former employee of Banh & Butter, she is super excited to help Thoa and Kha tell their story! 

Haley Aldinger is a Denver filmmaker with a focus in Production Design and editing. She is passionate about telling stories that often go untold and underrepresented. She aims to create showcase unique perspectives through storytelling.

Adamariz Vicente C is pursuing a Film and Television major at CU Denver. With Guatemalan immigrant parents, she hopes to represent and share stories through film and Television for the Latino community.  

Lilith Diringer is a young performer, born and raised in Germany. In her studies and work, she combines her experience in economics, law, and political science with her passion for the Performing Arts. Pursuing a Master's in Public Policy and a Performance Certificate in Jazz simultaneously, her mission is to encourage people to reflect on topics they may not get in touch with daily. With her interdisciplinary approach, being not only a filmmaker, director and actor but also a composer, musician, and circus performer, she showcases her interdisciplinary talents in several formats from short films to full musical theatres. She further contributes to the community in Colorado by engaging at the Center for Community Engagement and Advanced Learning at DU. Furthermore, she was awarded the Lamont Entrepreneurship Fund and is currently developing a sustainable travel app, especially for artists including filmmakers. Her academic research spans from sustainability in the film industry, to the potential of performing arts for at-risk youth's development, peace, and well-being. 

Symphonic Sketches

SYMPHONIC SKETCHES tells the story of one classical music concert performed by the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra. Musicians from diverse backgrounds connect to the repertoire in unique ways to stage an unforgettable performance.

Instant Noodle

Marianna, an Indonesian woman, goes on a grocery run, to buy an instant noodle, a dish her recently deceased Indonesian Mom would often prepare. She unexpectedly encounters a series of events that would force her to embrace her Asian heritage and to properly grieve her mother’s death.

Chris Barron is an American film director, cinematographer, and editor.  A graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Chris has over 20 years experience in film and video production.