DC APA Film Festival Kickoff Party: (Red) Lights, (Digital) Camera, (Hennessy) Action!

Well, it’s finally here.



After months of meetings, screening films, calling up sponsors, designing postcards, and flyering the nation’s capital, the seventh annual DC APA Film Festival kicked off with a flurry of activity. Revelers and film fest groupies who showed up at the Eyebar last Thursday night found wall-to-wall Asians, thumping beats, free cocktails, a trailer contest, if you were quick and resourceful enough, free dumplings from Cafe Asia, and Verizon propaganda everywhere (a shameless plug, but hey, even independent bloggers don’t forget who foots the tab for the party).

I rolled in with some friends shortly after doors opened at seven. Seemingly like 99% of the other people in attendance, I found myself looking for the Hennessy girls pretty quickly. Um, just for a drink. Of course. And like 99% of the people, once I found them I picked up a glass of brown liquid off the tray which turned out to be Coke instead of cognac. (Note to self and blog readers attending the post-film parties: the Hennessy trays have mixer AND cognac, so meet the lovely ladies, politely take two glasses and turn yourself into a bartender for a second for the full experience.)

Then came the 7:30 p.m. deluge, as if one large cab dropped dozens of Asians off at the same time. Funny how that happens. Well at least the word got out. Friends brought coworkers. Coworkers brought neighbors. Neighbors brought friends. I asked one attendee how he found out about our little shindig. “Dude, I got like 5 emails about this thing.”

Regardless, if you arrived sometime between 7:30 and 9 and found yourself standing between the bar and the wall, you weren’t going anywhere easily. And the bar wasn’t a bad place to be stuck - the bartenders were quick and friendly and you could pick up from the countertop a film fest schedule or postcard for one of the festival movies, like the much anticipated doc “The Queen of Virginia.”

Christian thanked our sponsors, some of whom were in attendance, and invited revelers to watch and vote for one of the trailers (which basically boiled down to a vote among “The First One,” “The One with the Little Girl,” and “The Panda One”). But he didn’t say anything about how to fill out a ballot in pencil with a martini in your hand.

At some point through the buzz I could swear DJ Ph1ipz dropped the unmistakable beats of “Billie Jean” … and others evidently did too. Though Eyebar doesn’t really boast a dance floor, it didn’t stop some partiers (and you heard it here - APA Film Festival board members) from shakin’ their tushes by the couches. By the end of the night, many faces were red - and it wasn’t just because of Eyebar’s crimson mood lighting. Something about Asians lacking some enzyme. Hmmm…

All in all, kickoff night was a fun party with the promise of much more to come! After all, somewhere, in some hidden location, there are still some bottles of Hennessy left.

See if one of the camerapeople caught you redeyed or redfaced kickoff party night at Eyebar on our Flickr page.

See you at the movies- M.F.S.