Features | HIFF | Hawai'i International Film Festival

RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE spotlights Climate Gentrification

White sand beaches, crystal blue water, trendy restaurants and clubs alongside luxury beachfront property with the beach within feet of your front door. Miami is such a premier destination. But in 2017, Hurricane Irma swept through the city, causing billions of dollars in damage to these sought-after properties. Meanwhile, lower-income inland neighborhoods like Little Haiti […]

RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE spotlights Climate Gentrification Read More »

HIFF43 Bildungsroman Films

Features, HIFF43 / By HIFF Programming

Bildungsroman. What the heck is that? It’s a German term that comprises of two words: Bildung which means education or formation Roman which means novel A bildungsroman is a novel of formation, education or culture. In other words, the coming-of-age story! Now, we know you’ve heard of that! It’s also a pretty universally story that

HIFF43 Bildungsroman Films Read More »

Action Asia at HIFF43

Features, HIFF43, Programming Updates / By HIFF Programming

HIFF43 continues its streak of showing the very best in Asian action cinema from Japan, China and South Korea. From old school martial arts, including a documentary examining the posthumous bootleg Bruce Lee movie pipeline that flooded cinemas worldwide, to Japanese female assassins, savage samurais vying for power, and in-person tributes to action superstars Daniel

Action Asia at HIFF43 Read More »

Enter the Albert Pyun-iverse with HIFF43’s weekend double feature!

Features, HIFF43, Programming Updates / By HIFF Programming

Albert Pyun – a Son of Hawai‘i, born and raised on the Windward side of Oahu, who would work as a cameraman at KGMB, had high aspirations to break into Hollywood as a filmmaker. He never did, relegated to mostly direct to VHS movies, yet his 50-filmography represented a volume of work that goes unprecedented

Enter the Albert Pyun-iverse with HIFF43’s weekend double feature! Read More »

What it means to be Asian|American in Hawai‘i

Features, HIFF43, Sponsors / By HIFF Programming

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 »

HIFILM spotlights upcoming film about Hawai‘i’s greatest night in sports history

Features, Free Films/Events, Hawai‘i Films, HIFF43, HIFILM / By HIFF Programming

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 »

Programmer’s Picks: HIFF43’s International Shorts Programs

Features, HIFF43, In Theaters, Programming Updates / By HIFF Programming

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 »

Film For Thought: JOIN OR DIE (HIFF43)

Features, Film For Thought, HIFF43 / By HIFF Programming

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 »

Film For Thought: NO MĀORI ALLOWED + STILL WE RISE (HIFF43)

Features, Film For Thought, HIFF43, HIFILM / By HIFF Programming

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 »

Film For Thought: MUSTACHE (HIFF43)

Features, Film For Thought, HIFF43 / By HIFF Programming

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 »