The movie had just ended and I quickly joined the slowly moving line exiting the theater. It continued out towards the cafe, passed the festival host, a nice, elderly Asian gentleman in a tuxedo with a silver jacket. He smiled and greeted people, shaking hands and making small talk. Every so often, he would stop somebody and hand them a green postcard.

Before I reached him, I had already planned out my response. When he greeted me, I would smile, nod my head slightly and give a friendly "Hi, how do you do?" Very simple.

The plan was working until he said, "Oh wait, you might be interested in this..." He grabbed a blue postcard from the window ledge and handed it to me. It was a small advertisement for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

"The festival will be in San Jose next weekend. You should check it out," he told me with a smile.

I thanked him softly and headed to the cafe for some espresso. I wondered what it was that prompted him to tell me about the festival? What was on the green postcard? And why hadn't he handed other people the blue one?

With more courage, I would've gone back and asked him. But what answer was I expecting? Maybe there wasn't a reasonable explanation. Maybe I just gave off a certain "vibe".

Whichever way, his instincts were right on. The festival does look interesting. So this weekend, I'm planning to see at least one Asian American film.