Vicky, a strange and solitary little girl, has “special powers:” she can reproduce any scent she likes, and collects them in a series of carefully labeled jars that trigger her to travel through time and space. She has secretly captured the scent of Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos from BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR), her mother for …
Halim and Mina run a traditional caftan store in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas. In order to keep up with the commands of the demanding customers, they hire Youssef. The talented apprentice shows an utmost dedication in learning the art of embroidery and tailoring from Halim. Slowly Mina realizes how much her husband is moved …
Freddie (Park Ji-Min), a young French woman, finds herself spontaneously tracking down the South Korean birth parents she has never met while on vacation in Seoul. Unfolding across several specific time periods in Freddie’s life, usually tethered to her birth country (geographically and metaphorically), the film’s time-jumping narrative weaves in twists and turns, chronicling the …
Chie Hayakawa’s PLAN 75, which had its world premiere at Cannes, is a beautifully humanist tale that inventively uses Japan’s aging population crisis as a conceit for a dystopian tale that looks at the value of life. Legislation has passed to fix Japan’s “aging problem;” Anyone over the age of seventy-five can apply for government-funded …
On the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, the High Commissioner of the Republic, De Roller, is a calculating man with flawless manners. His somewhat broad perception of his role brings him to navigate the high end “establishment” as well as shady venues where he mingles with the locals. As rumors of malign influence from Russia, …
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) is a widowed young mother raising her daughter on her own, while also caring for her sick father (Pascal Greggory). She’s dealing with the loss of the relationship she once had with her father, while she and her mother and sister fight to get him the care he requires. At the same …
Sarya has lived in Japan since she was five. She pretends to be German to her friends, which is easier than telling the truth. In reality, Sarya’s parents are Kurds who traveled from Turkey to Japan as refugees. Furthermore, she is responsible for her younger siblings while her father is at work. Despite the hardships, …
Léo and Charlie are the textbook definition of youthful freedom and possibility. Running through flower fields, exploring the world around them, these grinning, glowing, skinny 13-year-olds appear to have inexhaustible energy and boundless joy. Best of all, they have each other, as close as brothers. But as the boys enroll in a new school, 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.
