By Arianne Angela F. Solis

UM-Sigaw, the official Filipino Students’ Group at the University of Manitoba, spearheaded a free movie showing last January 23, 2008 at the Second Floor of the University Centre, University of Manitoba. The event is a part of the annual Asian Movie Festival for the University’s Celebrations Week.

The Asian Movie Festival (AMF) kicked off last January 14, 2008, and has been a part of the Celebrations Week for the past couple of years. The event is managed by several Asian students’ associations in the university. The AMF showcases different films from various Asian countries and bring them to the forefront for attention and recognition. This year, there were ten movies shown, presented by ten student groups from Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Korea, India, Indonesia, Taiwan, The Philippines, Malaysia and Japan. This is the first time that AMF presented an entry from The Philippines.

For this year’s AMF, UM-Sigaw presented Marilou Diaz-Abaya’s 1999 opus, Muro-Ami. Prior to the movie showing, cultural booths were set up outside the location, showing different cultural icons and photographs that represent and capture the Philippines and the Filipino culture. Filipino food and refreshments were also provided for free to the viewers before the film. Local talent and UM-Sigaw member Elsa Andrea Mutya also delivered a Filipino song in line with the presentation.

The Asian Movie Festival [ends/ended] on January 25, with University of Manitoba Japanese Association closing off the event.

Arianne is a graduating BA Psychology student at the University of Manitoba, and is the former president of UM-Sigaw (Academic Year 2006-2007).

For more information about the list of films shown during the AMF, please visit http://www.amf2008.org.
To those who are interested in joining UM-Sigaw, or just to get the latest news and events a, please visit http://umsigaw.derpinsel.com/ or contact the officers at umsigaw@gmail.com.