Aruba

arubaA Dutch protectorate tucked near the very bottom of the Caribbean, Aruba is a small, arid, resort powered island that, despite its idiosyncrasies, may feel at times, especially along its sunbather packed eastern shores, like any other tourist satellite (although a particularly intoxicating one it is). Still, woe is he who gets caught in the all too ubiquitous Ame

rican simulacrum, one of decidedly marked-up Five Guys fries and T.G.I. Friday’s chicken fingers, of cheeseburger “specials” at Hooters with beef that taste like copper. Of course, this is a film festival on a beautiful tourist trap, so there’s a lot of glamor, some forced, although mostly not in this particularly pricey locale; if you look hard enough, you can even find a place along the resorts with actual Aruban food. The Aruba Film Festival is a young festival however, perhaps against all odds considering some of the disadvantages of resort bound film fests, is sprightly, fun and monumentally eclectic in its programming, even if it’s held, for the most part, on the second floor of a strip-mall multiplex near the Holiday Inn.


Those all too pristine beaches just a few hundred yards away just call out for night-time, outdoor screenings, despite the still humid air and occasionally stiff ocean breezes. Whatever; the cake’s been baked and the deed is done for the 2011 AFF, and what a bizarre and occasionally magical time at the movies it was.

Aruba