Festival Awards & Jurors

Halekulani Golden Orchid Awards

The Golden Orchid is bestowed upon the narrative and documentary films that best express artistic and technical excellence and promote cross-cultural understanding. Like the rare endemic orchids of our native Hawaii, these awards recognize singular achievements amid collective beauty. Each nominated film furthers the Hawaii International Film Festival mandate to entertain, enlighten and empower. Our international jury will select the films that articulate this manifesto consistent with the cross-pollination of words, ideas and images that comprise the kinetic and visceral power of film. The Halekulani Golden Orchid Award takes the form of a handcrafted umeke la'au, or "calabash" bowl, the highest and most beautiful achievement of the ancient Hawaiians.

Halekulani Golden Orchid Jury 

NARRATIVE:

2010 Jurors to be announced

DOCUMENTARY:

2010 Jurors to be announced

Audience Choice Award

Vote for your favorite feature film, documentary or short film playing at HIFF. Ballots will be distributed for the first screening in Honolulu of every eligible film during the film festival. No pens, pencils or i.d. required. Tear along the edge of the ballot from 1 (terrible) to 5 (excellent) and drop it in the ballot boxes as you exit the theater. Special thanks to Oshima Company CPA, LLC for tallying ballots.

NETPAC Award

Founded in 1990 by Cinemaya and UNESCO, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) is an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to promoting Asian film throughout the world. The prestigious NETPAC award is given at select international film festivals to promote Asian cinema by spotlighting exceptional works and discovering new talent.

The NETPAC award is presented annually at international film festivals in Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Rotterdam, Pusan, Singapore, Taiwan, Yamagata, Amiens and Hawaii. HIFF is the only film festival in North America given permission to present the NETPAC award.

Vision in Film Award

The city will present the "City and County of Honolulu Vision In Film" Award which seeks to recognize industry players with broad insight into film: artistically, commercially and charitably. Previous honorees have included The American Film Institute, the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, as well as directors Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou and Park Chan-wook.

Mahalo Nui Loa Award

HIFF is inaugurating its Mahalo Nui Loa Award to honor those individuals who have made invaluable contributions to the art and culture of filmmaking.

Maverick Award

The Maverick Award is given in honor of a cinema artist who defies the rules, forging a unique film career, transcending labels and thresholds to vacillate between Hollywood and global cinema.

Achievement in Acting

HIFF is honored to present and spotlight a distinguished, versatile actor in film that has consistently amazed critics and audiences with their choice of roles in cinema. This year's achievement in acting award will be announced at the press conference and awarded to the recipient person at the awards reception.

VOD Viewers Choice Award Powered by Oceanic Time Warner Cable

Oceanic Time Warner Digital Cable subscribers will have the chance to support Hawaii filmmaking by voting for their favorite Hawaii-made short film at this year's HIFF! Just surf to NGN-on-Demand channel 680 and select, view and vote for your favorite short film! The film that garners the most votes will be announced at HIFF's Awards Ceremony.