The HIFF ONLINE CREATORS & CRITICS IMMERSIVE (HOCCI) program supports sustainable film criticism in Hawai‘i through mentorship and paid career opportunities. The mission of HOCCI is to broaden diversity in film criticism across the Pacific region and use influencer branding strategies to spark career opportunities in Hawai’i, not be hampered by oceans, state borders and […]
Introducing the 2023 HOCCI Cohort Read More »
Growing up Asian in Hawai‘i, one can argue that the Asian American experience is different from Asian Americans living on the continent. As a Gen X-er, I grew up in the 1980s, where the majority of my elementary school teachers were Japanese and female, my neighbors were Asian, Pacific Islander and Kanaka Maoli. But, is
What it means to be Asian|American in Hawai‘i Read More »
As part of HIFILM (HIFF43’s “Industry Hub”), comes the return of HOMETOWN HEROES, a now perennial panel that explores the “State of 808 State Filmmaking,” and it’s trajectory as a burgeoning and sustainable indie film & tv industry in the ideation and production of authentic local stories. This year’s HOMETOWN HEROES panel is a little
HIFILM spotlights upcoming film about Hawai‘i’s greatest night in sports history Read More »
HIFF43’s short film programs are here! With an overall twelve shorts programs, I want to focus on four international shorts programs that are full of impactful and insightful stories from around the world (16 countries to be exact!). Short films are integral to film festivals not only because of their ability to pack variety into
Programmer’s Picks: HIFF43’s International Shorts Programs Read More »
Featuring over 186 films from across the globe, industry panels and career development workshops: The 43rd Hawai‘i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani (HIFF43) is the premiere cinematic event in the Pacific presenting the best in global cinema with a mission to elevate Asian, Pasifika, Kānaka Maoli and Indigenous voices. In-theater screening dates and locations:
PURCHASE YOUR HIFF43 PASSES TODAY Read More »
JOIN OR DIE traces social scientist Robert D. Putnam’s life work in studying the decline of civic engagement in the United States over the last half-century. The film offers Putnam an opportunity to reflect on two of his highly influential works, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (2000) and Making Democracy Work:
Film For Thought: JOIN OR DIE (HIFF43) Read More »
For Indigenous people living under settler colonialism, the themes of NO MĀORI ALLOWED (2022) and STILL WE RISE (2022) feel more than familiar. In the former, director Corinna Hunziker (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Kahu) interviews Māori elders and community members to confront—some for the first time publicly—the acute racial segregation that pervaded Pukekohe, a small township in
Film For Thought: NO MĀORI ALLOWED + STILL WE RISE (HIFF43) Read More »
A feature debut and homage to coming-of-age films, nineties nostalgia, and awkward teenage transitions, MUSTACHE, written and directed by Imran J. Khan, won the Audience Award at SXSW and poses to be a new classic. The film begins with 13-year-old Ilyas’s (Atharv Verma) voiceover, as he contemplates the multiverse and whether there’s a place for
Film For Thought: MUSTACHE (HIFF43) Read More »
With aloha, HIFF acknowledges its occupation of ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Indigenous Hawaiian people, the Kānaka Maoli.
With gratitude, we honor the ʻāina itself and the generations who steward it.