Cultural & Visual Literacy Program

(open to students grades 7 to 12 on Oahu)

The Cultural & Visual Literacy Program (CVLP) provides free theater screenings of outstanding films that are rarely available in Hawaii. These films are applicable to many subjects; teachers in previous years have incorporated CVLP films into classes ranging from social studies and language arts to media production and character education. Whenever possible, HIFF invites the film's director to participate in a post-screening discussion with students. (Students may be required to read subtitles. Schools will be responsible for their own transportation. One adult chaperone will be required for every twenty students.)

Cultural & Visual Literacy Program Films

ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW

View ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW Trailer

Tuesday, October 19
2010 Hong Kong | 117 minutes
Cantonese with English Subtitles

ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW is Director Alex Law's (THE SOONG SISTERS) semi-autobiographical look at his childhood during 1960s Hong Kong. With a detailed eye for life of the period and an inspiring story about a resilient family in tough times, this heartwarming nostalgia drama has won the hearts of audiences around the world.

Told through the eyes of sticky-fingered eight-year-old boy Big Ears (Buzz Chung), ECHOES OF THE RAINBOW takes place in a close-knit grassroots community in 1960s Hong Kong. Big Ears' mother and father (Sandra Ng and Simon Yam, in an award-winning performance) run the neighborhood shoe store, and his older brother Desmond (pop singer and HKFA Best New Artist winner Aarif Lee) is every family's dream son - an outstanding athlete with grades worthy of Hong Kong's best school. Their lives aren't always happy, but the family sticks together through all the rough times, no matter how bad it gets.

Director: Alex Law
Cast: Simon Yam, Sandra Ng Kwan Yue

SING CHINA!

Wednesday, October 20
2009 United States | 72 minutes

Featuring a group of talented 11 and 14 year-old singers, SING CHINA! effectively shows how young children can pack a 10,000-seat concert hall and mesmerize Chinese audiences. Invited to be in the Olympics International Youth Arts Festival, the troupe of the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus present classics from Beethoven and Schubert to Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin as they sing their way through China's greatest cities - Shanghai, Beijing, Xian and Hong Kong.

This documentary offers a fresh and humorous perspective on the global might of modern day China through the eyes of youth. As violinist Isaac Stern did decades earlier, these talented kids do their part to bridge a cultural gap between China and America by promoting understanding among people. SING CHINA! demonstrates how children can be a force in diplomacy through the power of music.

Director: Freida Lee Mock
Featuring: Gianna Horak

RASPBERRY MAGIC

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Thursday, October 21
2010 United States | 90 minutes

RASPBERRY MAGIC is a touching coming of age tale that focuses on a caring, intelligent and determined 11-year-old girl named Monica Shah. Monica believes she can solve any problem (even her parents' crumbling marriage), but when tensions at home become unbearable, her father leaves and her mother succumbs to a deep depression. Determined to mend her parents' relationship, Monica takes charge, believing that if she wins the school science fair, everything will be okay.

Her experiment uses touch therapy to help a select group of raspberries grow in the forest. She asks: Can you nurture love, or is it inherently only a natural phenomenon? Monica grapples with this question as she conducts her experiment on her plants. Working with care and diligence, but with minimal results Monica becomes frustrated. It is only when she lets go of the scientific method and explores her own sense of compassion does she finally see results not only in her project, but in her family as well. Tender and sincere, RASPBERRY MAGIC has won the hearts of festival audiences across the country.

Director: Leena Pendharkar
Cast: Lily Javaherpour, Meera Simhan, Ravi Kapoor, Keya Shah, Bella Thorne