October 9-19, 2008
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LVHIFF Fall Festival Dates: October 9-19, 2008 |
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HIFF 11th Annual Spring Showcase April 18-24, 2008 For Showtimes and Tickets, please see our Online Film Schedule. Tickets go on sale to HIFF members on April 7th and to the general public on April 11th. Movie ticket prices are $10, $9 for students, seniors, children, and military. HIFF Ohana Members get tickets priced per membership level. Tickets are available in person at the HIFF Box Office (680 Iwilei Road, Suite 100, Honolulu, HI 96817) Monday April 7th - Saturday April 17th, 11am - 6pm (pre-sale hours). From April 18th - April 24th, tickets can be purchased or picked up at the Guest Services Counter inside the Regal Dole Cannery Theatre Lobby one hour prior to the first show until the start of the last show, online at www.hiff.org, by phone at 550-8457(TIKS), or by fax at 536-2707. Film Synopses: ALWAYS: SUNSET ON THIRD STREET 2 (JAPAN - OPENING NIGHT) 
Young tyke Junnosuke continues to live with Chagawa since bar girl Hiromi deposited him with the writer last time around. Chagawa is determined to become a serious writer, win Hiromi's heart and create a family with her and the adopted kid. Meanwhile, the Suzuki's play host to a newcomer: spoiled 7-year-old girl Mika. Enhanced archival footage becomes an integral part of the story, with '50s Tokyo as much a character as any of the individuals in this sprawling story. --Variety
HOLLYWOOD CHINESE is an epic documentary that explores the depiction of Asians in American cinema and the role of Chinese Americans in the Hollywood film industry. Combining rare and popular footage with interviews featuring Asian America's preeminent cultural figures, acclaimed documentarian, Arthur Dong, presents the rich story of Asians in American cinema over the past 100 years. HOLLYWOOD CHINESE is essential viewing in the history of Asian American cinema. --Konrad Ng
AMERICAN TEEN intimately follows the lives of four teenagers in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. Using cinema verite footage, interviews, and animation, it presents a candid portrait of being a teenager and all that goes with it. A modern day BREAKFAST CLUB, we see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future.
The year 1948 witnessed the launching of the Huaihai Campaign during the Chinese Civil War. In one of Chinese history's deadliest battles, thousands from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Nationalist Army (KMT) fell in the battle that took place between Xuzhou and Bengdu. It was amid this bloody fight that Captain Guzidi led the Ninth Company infantry unit on a sniper mission. The company is ordered to fight until they hear the assembly call.
A hit in Japan (partly due to the controversy surrounding lead actress, Erika Sawajiri's (Kae) "attitude problem"), CLOSED NOTE will enchant viewers who are true romantics at heart. Kae discovers the diary of Ibuki, the previous tennant of her new apartment, and comes to learn of Ibuki's love life. Kae sees Ibuki as a role model and finds strengh in the knowledge Ibuki conveys through her diary to begin her own quest for love.
The accidental death of his father's lover leads Nejat, a college professor, to search for her daughter in Turkey. Ayten, a young woman, fleeing the Turkish police finds herself alone and penniless in Germany until she befriends and eventually becomes the lover of Lotte, a college student. The lives of the characters intertwine and the story culminates into a heartwrenching end, when fate has them converge in Turkey.
The 2004 Athens Olympics are approaching and Korea is looking for a gold medal in every sport. Korean women in particular have done well in most areas except for the ignored and looked down upon sport of handball. It doesn't look good when the players who show up are women in their thirties and teens. Can this oddball group overcome their personal differences and hardships and somehow come together as a team? Based on true events, this blockbuster feel good movie is one not to miss.
The eccentric and selfish Sumika arrives for the funeral of her parents, who have tragically died. Her younger sister Kiyomi, a talented cartoonist, is overtly afraid of her, and her stepbrother, Shinji, who has married an orphan named Machiko, is nervous and guarded around her. Shades of black humour mingle in the dialogues and actions of the individual characters; the drama of the past and conflicts of the present come to life in the comic caricatures, uncovering a bloody family strife and a collision of self-love. --KVIFF
Director Nobuhiro Yamashita of LINDA, LINDA, LINDA (HIFF 2006) popularity is back with a delightful coming of age tale of first love. A love-hate relationship quickly develops between sweet country girl Soyo and city boy Hiromi. What starts out as disdain for one another truns into sincere affection. Soon Soyo and Hiromi are inseparable, but the time comes when they must decide what high school to attend. Will Hiromi return to Tokyo or stay with Soyo?
It's 1950 and it's a make or break weekend for Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover), the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge. Deep in debt, Tyrone is desperate to bring back the crowds that used to come to his place. He decides to lay off his long-time blues singer Bertha Mae, and announces that he's hired a famous guitar player, Guitar Sam, for a one night only gig in order to save the club. But when Tyron's ace-in-thehole fails to materialize at the train station, his desperation leads to Sonny and the strange, wire-dangling object in his guitar case. The Honeydripper lounge is all set to play its part in rock n' roll history.
A sixteenth century epic romance about a marriage of alliance that gave birth to unbreakable bond between a great Mughal emperor, Akbar, and a Rajput princess, Jodhaa. Through a shrewd blend of tolerance, generosity, and force, Akbar won the allegiance of the fierce Rajputs tribe. Little did Akbar know that when he married Jodhaa, a fiery Rajput princess, in order to further strengthen his relations with the Rajputs, he would in turn be embarking upon a journey of true love.
Have you heard the one about the Iraqi, the Cambodian, and the Indonesian who get lost in the Australian desert? In this feel-good comedy, three illegal immigrants, through a variety of bad fortune, get completely lost in the outback on their quest for better lives. The three men must overcome their distrust of each other and work together to survive the harsh desert and the increasingly hilarious mishaps that befall them. --Sat K. Freedman
Beautiful Mi-Su Shin's secret to picking out a perfect man is to have an open mind and meet as many different candidates as possible. She has four likely candidates wrapped around her finger, as she uses chameleon like personas to fit in with each guy. She then tries to gage the potential of each of her suitors, but unfortunately for Mi-Su, her plan goes horribly awry as her web of indiscretion comes out into the open. Will there be a guy left for Mi-Su?
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This year's SPRING SHOWCASE will present over 20 acclaimed and award-winning films from around the world, including South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, India, Turkey, Germany, the US and many more. Sign up for our eNews miling list or keep visiting our website for the official announcement of the full line-up. We also have re-designed membership packages for 2008, which are more flexible than last year's offerings. Film Synopses (Cont.): MONGOL (KAZAKHSTAN - CLOSING NIGHT) 
The story recounts the early life of Genghis Khan who was a slave before going on to conquer half the world including Russia in 1206. Starring Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano (ICHI THE KILLER, A TASTE OF TEA) as the titular and iconic Khan, and directed by Sergei Bodrov (NOMAD, BEAR'S KISS), this epic adventure should only be seen on the big screen. Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Academy Awards.
Jamie Bell is Hallam Foe, a troubled young man whose knack for voyeurism paradoxically reveals his darkest fears, and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, Hallam instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city of Edinburgh for love. Featuring a lively soundtrack with Franz Ferdinand, Sons and Daughters and Orange Juice among others, MISTER FOE is a darkly twisted, entertaining work of magical realism from one of the leading lights of the new Scottish cinema.
Indian superstar Sha Rukh Khan stars as Om, a junior artist whose one true love is the cinematic goddess Shanti Priya (Deepika Padukone), and they begin a love affair. But, cosmic forces run against them and fate separates them forever. Thirty years later, Om is reincarnated and becomes a superstar himself. He soon feels pangs of his former life and begins production on a big budget spectacle called OM SHANTI OM, which may or may not be an homage to his one true love.
In 1933, while Korea is under Japan's colonial rule, a lazy but charming Lloyd is hired as a producer for the country's first radio station. To impress a lovely jazz singer, Lloyd comes up with a masterplan to produce the first radio drama in Chosun that will be titled "The Flame of Love." Even before the first episode airs, the program seems plagued with a comedy of errors and miscues. The biggest problem seems to be the (mis)cast of characters, who ignore the script and resort to ad-libbing. Even amid the ensuing chaos, the play becomes increasingly popular with each passing day, but how will it end up?
Left alone to raise his young son after his wife runs off with his best friend, Romulus struggles against great adversity, doing his best to give his son Raimond a childhood, while trying to keep Christina (Raimond's mother) in the boy's life. Based on Raimond Gaita's critically acclaimed memoir of the same title, ROMULUS, MY FATHER is ultimately a story of impossible love that celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son.
Raised without the influence of music and television, young Will Proudfoot's imagination is blown wide open when he encounters his first movie, a pirated copy of RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD. Now, Will sets out to join forces with the seemingly diabolical school bully, Lee Carter, to make their own action epic, devising wildly creative, on-the-fly stunts. SON OF RAMBOW is a hilariously fresh and visually inventive take on friendship, family, film heroes and the death-defying adventures of growing up in the video age.
Four vignettes in this romantic drama span from the late 1950's to the end of the Cultural Revolution in the late 1970's. In "Madness," a 17-year-old pieces together his background. Sexual attraction ensues between a sexy doctor and a teacher in "Love." Tragic results occur when a man discovers his wife's affair with a brigade leader in the third story "Rifle." "Dream" resolves a young man's quest to find out who his father is.
Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with THEN SHE FOUND ME, a touching story of schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment. Following the separation from her husband and the death of her adopted mother, April is contacted by her apparent birth mother who turns out to be a local talk show host Bernice Graves. As Bernice tries to become the mother to April that she was never able to be, April seems to find solace in the arms of the parent of one of her students, only to find that the mystery to life's questions cannot be solved by a simple revelation.
15-year-old Tracey Berkowitz (JUNO'S Ellen Page) is naked under a shower curtain at the back of a bus, looking for her little brother Sonny, who thinks he's a dog. Tracey's journey leads us into the dark underbelly of the city, her home and the brutality of high school. Tracey's stories begin to intertwine truth with lies, and hope with despair as we move closer to the truth of Sonny's disappearance.
UP THE YANGTZE offers a respectful supplement to a plethora of investigative explorations of the devastating ecological and socioeconomic impacts China's Three Gorges Dam. Taking a more meditative approach, director Yung Chang's documentary chronicles the Yangtze's formidable rising waters as they absorb the lives of a subsistence farming family and float a new luxury cruise ship. Along with the ship's tourists and service workers, we witness the dam's stunning manipulation of nature. --Bianca Isaki
From the creators of APPLESEED, comes a Full CG animation Sci-Fi Action film. In opposition to the United Nations ban on bio and robot technology, Japan isolates itself from the rest of the world by creating an impenetrable magnetic field that which prevents anyone to see what is going inside, nor allow people to travel in and out of the country. Ten years later, when Japan finally begins to move, the US government sends in a special force team, lead by a female commander Vexille, to investigate what is really happening inside the closed country.
Set in a Thai village devastated by the 2004 tsunami, WONDERFUL TOWN reaches deeply into the hearts and minds of people struggling to rebuild themselves long after the physical shockwaves have subsided. When a Bangkok architect Ton, and a local hotel owner Na begin an affair, local residents, led by none other than Na's brother Wit, begin to voice their disapproval. Will Ton and Na's romance be able to withstand the local pressure? A touching film with powerful cathartic qualities, WONDERFUL TOWN has won over critics and audiences worldwide. -- Variety
Prepare to be entertained by the inspiring individuals of the YOUNG@HEART, a New England senior citizens chorus that has delighted audiences worldwide with their covers of songs by everyone from The Clash to Coldplay. As Stephen Walker's documentary begins, the retirees, led by their strict musical director, are rehearsing their new show, struggling with a discordant Sonic Youth number and giving new meaning to James Brown's "I Feel Good." What ultimately emerges is a funny and unexpectedly moving testament to friendship, creative inspiration, that reaches beyond expectations. |
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