A samurai who time-travels to modern-day Japan has to learn to become a fake samurai in a TV period drama. You will love A SAMURAI IN TIME, a well-thought-out indie comedy that achieved huge success in Japan and is now circulating through international film festivals (you can see how “indie” this film is when you
As the dust settles from the just concluded 44th Hawai‘I International Film Festival presented by Halekulani (HIFF44), the festival staff is currently going through wrap-up reports, crunching numbers, and analyzing data. On the programming side, it’s several post-mortems as we reflect on some of our personal film favorites, in the hopes that we can amplify
HIFF44 had many shorts programs this season, so we’re not surprised that our loyal patrons may have missed a film or two due to scheduling conflicts. So with the help of our head of short programming, Melina Kiyomi Coumas, we’d like to recommend a handful of films that may have escaped your attention on the
This year at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, I watched some of the best films in indigenous cinema and representation of the local community here in Hawaiʻi. HIFF44 featured the premiere of its centerpiece presentation, Alika Tengan’s MOLOKA’I BOUND. I had been anticipating this film since seeing the original short a few years ago. Before
It’s as if I flew through a portal into another world I hadn’t dared to step into. People have told me over the years I could be an actor, my English teacher in middle school, Dan Lauria, too. But even though it seemed exciting, something in me swept it away, as if it were something
Disclaimer: There are NO bad films on this list, all of them are 5 stars in their own right. A reminder that this is just my opinion as a viewer who watches stuff for fun. You do NOT need to agree with me. HIFF44’s START MOTION SHORTS is a selection of animated shorts from around
The HIFF ONLINE CREATIVES & CRITICS IMMERSIVE (HOCCI) program, powered by Critical Minded, 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.
The 2024 HOCCI supports Hawai‘i-based AANHPI critics to be a HIFF44 press cohort to cover films, panels, or filmmakers at the 44th Annual Hawai‘i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani. Film criticism will consists of four different focuses: writing, podcasting, video essays, and vlogs.
