You recall we mentioned the recent launch of Film Friday by the Honolulu Academy? Well, flick fans and cognoscenti turned out for the launch of Friends of Film Friday at the Doris Duke Theatre in droves this past week. Honolulu Weekly film critic Bob Green, Italian Film Festival organizer Margharita Parrent and Honolulu Advertiser style writer Paula Rath were a few of the people who gathered in the Luce Pavilion Courtyard chatting over Mulvadi coffee, effervescent punch and wine (along with Otto cheesecake, brownies and gourmet cookies). Filmmaker and founder of the soon-to-launch PacificNetwork.tv Edgy Lee introduced Sunflower, starring Joan Chen, about post-Cultural Revolution China.

A gracious MC, Lee led a lively discussion après-film discussion, with people intelligently weighing in on Sunflower’s pros and cons. Up this Friday: The short-film nominees for this year’s Academy Awards. The roster includes Il Supplemente from Italy, about a new student at a high school, France’s Le Mozart des pickpockets about a pair of unlucky thieves who take in a homeless boy, and the Canadian animated selection I Met the Walrus (pictured), about a boy who in 1969 snuck into John Lennon's hotel room and interviewed him. Film producer and HIFF staffer Sean Shodahl will be the night’s presenter. You can still join FFF, just go to www.friendsoffilmfriday.com.

—LesaG, 02/13/08