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 distance, because geography is no longer a barrier. Officially launched in 2022 with ten young mentees, HOCCI is a reimagining of the former Roger Ebert Young Critics Initiative.
Directed by Liz Barney and Alison Week, documentary feature ISLAND COWGIRLS brings viewers a unique look at the lives of two different paniolos, or Hawaiian cowgirls, on Hawai‘i Island. They are each part of ranches on the island with longstanding family ties. In the film, high school senior Laʻi Bertelmann wrestles with the decision of […]
ISLAND COWGIRLS spotlights paniolos, precarity of land leases Read More »
UNCLE BULLY’S SURF SKOOL was one of the most anticipated films of HIFF 43. Directed by Todd Soliday and Leah Washawski, the uplifting documentary features Bull Kotter, a surf instructor, affectionately known as “Uncle Bully”. Raised in Maui, Bully’s passion for surf education and community development in Maui is a guiding light for youth during
Riding the waves of resilience in UNCLE BULLY’S SURF SKOOL Read More »
Climate gentrification is omnipresent. With rising sea levels, people are forced to move further inland and the housing market must turn elsewhere. This search for new land to “develop” leaves many minority groups out of a place to live in favor of the upper and middle classes who can afford new, up-to-date housing. And though
Climate gentrification’s DNA explored in THE SETTLERS (Los colonos) Read More »
This year’s HIFF not only featured a number of films “Made in Hawai‘i” in its programming, but also spotlighted a new filmmaking initiative and shared perspectives on the current status of Native Hawaiians in the industry. One of the films discussed in HIFF’s panels this year is MAKAWALU, a project in development. MAKAWALU is a
MAKAWALU, the current status of Native Hawaiians in the industry & future outlook Read More »
HOCCI’s Sean Oketani sits down with filmmaker Hunter Naho‘oikaika to discuss her film, SEEING WITH HAWAIIAN EYES, an official selection of the 43rd Hawai‘i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani (HIFF43) and screened in the Kānaka Maoli Legacy: New Hawaiian Docs program. Here is the film’s synopsis: Lehia establishes an indigenous farm with her partner
The deadly fire in Lāhainā should have never happened. It could have been prevented if the ʻāina (land) had been properly cared for, as it once was before land changes occurred that made the area dangerously dry. Lāhainā is a very important place to Kānaka Maoli, it was once the capital of the Kingdom of
Ka Nani o Lāhainā (The Beauty of Lāhainā) in UNCLE BULLY’S SURF SKOOL & MY PARTNER Read More »
Kia’i, a word in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language) that translates to guardian or protector, is a major theme of KEEPER OF THE BAY, an environmental documentary that recently had its Hawai‘i premiere at the 43rd Hawai‘i Interational Film Festival (HIFF43). In a world where development and industrialization have often encroached upon the delicate balance of
The Kia’i in KEEPER OF THE BAY Read More »
THE ALIʻI KING and KA ʻĀʻUMEʻUME: NAVIGATING HOME are two films presenting Hawaiian diaspora experiences on-screen and told by Hawaiian filmmakers who are in the diaspora (living outside of Hawaiʻi) themselves. THE ALIʻI KING is a narrative short film taking place in the 1960s detailing a Hawaiian-German immigrant family road-tripping from Utah to Anaheim, California
Vicious zombies, grisly action set-pieces, and shocking gore are not a regular occurrence in Hawai‘i indie films. If that doesn’t sound like your idea of a good time, then DECADE OF THE DEAD is not for you. But for those who are able to stomach such intense visuals, and even enjoy them in a perverse
DECADE OF THE DEAD is the zombie bite that Hawai‘i indie filmmaking needs Read More »
In the documentary RAZING LIBERTY SQUARE, redevelopment is pushing out a poor Black community of approximately 700 families in Liberty Square, a neighborhood that sits in the middle of Miami, Florida. And in Myanmar, thousands have been relocated due to the development of the Myitsone Dam, a project funded by Chinese investment for energy production
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.
