FILM FOR THOUGHT Presented by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities THOUGHTS: LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM (2020) As an elementary school teacher in the small island community of Lānaʻi, I felt an instant connection to director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM. Sent to …
FILM FOR THOUGHT Presented by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities THOUGHTS: LANDFALL LANDFALL (2020) “Connections are made during tough times, and they happen for a reason.” LANDFALL begins on a beach. The ocean whispers, voices whisper, and shadows flicker over the faces of two women. Their voices grow stronger, as their friendship has, in …
FILM FOR THOUGHT Presented by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities THOUGHTS: DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL (2020) Directed by journalist and filmmaker Ursula Liang, DOWN A DARK STAIRWELL centers on the story of Akai Gurley’s murder by NYPD officer Peter Liang (no relation to the filmmaker) in the stairwell of a …
FILM FOR THOUGHT Presented by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities THOUGHTS: THROUGH THE NIGHT THROUGH THE NIGHT (2020) In the documentary “Through the Night,” filmmaker Loira Limbal turns a loving gaze on the intimate labor of Deloris “Nunu” Hogan who, with her husband Patrick, nurtures children in their 24-hour daycare in New Rochelle, New …
FILM FOR THOUGHT Presented by the Hawai‘i Council for the Humanities THOUGHTS: CANE FIRE CANE FIRE (2020) Documentary filmmakers are tasked with making the real reel. Anthony Banua-Simon’s CANE FIRE is a 95-minute “kaleidoscopic portrait” of beautiful Kauaʻi with some exposure to the current woes of this iconic Hawaiian paradise. Kauaʻi is known as “The …
With aloha, HIFF acknowledges its occupation of ancestral, traditional and contemporary lands of the Native Hawaiian people, the Kānaka Maoli.
With gratitude, we honor the ʻāina itself and the generations who steward it.