Forty-two years ago Jeannette Hereniko founded HIFF — the Hawaii International Film Festival — with the goal of promoting understanding among the people of Asia, America and the Pacific. The film festival has since become a cultural institution. As her husband, filmmaker Vilsoni Hereniko, described it, “HIFF surprised her with a legacy award at their 42nd gala award ceremony at the Halekulani and the packed house gave her an enthusiastic, standing ovation.”
During the past four decades, the annual event has become a watering hole, where filmmakers from around the world have gathered to screen their creations and share their knowledge with Hawaii creatives.
Perhaps no one in the state is more qualified to consider our digital media future than Jeannette. I sat down with her recently to discuss this topic.
Question: What local films caught your attention during the most recent HIFF?
Answer: Brittany Biggs’ “MANO” animated short took me on an unforgettable adventure inside an ocean once vibrantly alive with abundant and intensely colored coral and fish. The film time-traveled through centuries of the ocean’s interaction with humans living on the Hawaiian Islands — all seen from the viewpoint of Mano the shark.
Erin Lau’s brilliant filmmaking abilities were once again made evident at HIFF through her short film “Inheritance.” Time after time her mesmerizing films are written and directed with a natural pace that gradually reveal something truthful about contemporary life in Hawaii.
Scott Kekama Amona’s “E Malama Pono, Willy Boy” is a short film that stays strongly embedded inside me. The story is strong and the characters memorable. Perhaps this is in part because the ‘olelo, the Hawaiian language, flows so naturally from the actors, underscoring the protagonist’s dilemma and ultimate action. I find myself continuing to care for Willy Boy and his ohana.
Q: Do you think the university can play a bigger role in expanding the industry?
A: I think it’s a major achievement that our West Oahu community now has access to the new state-of-the-art Academy for Creative Media production center at University of Hawaii West Oahu. Thanks are due to Chris Lee and team for bringing together government, public and private organizations and donors to build a facility that will make a big difference to UHWO and our entire film industry.
Now it’s imperative to upgrade the production facilities for the Academy for Creative Media students attending the University of Hawaii Manoa, where ACM is the fastest-growing undergraduate program at the university with approximately 350 enrolled students.
Q: Where do you see local digital media going?
A: Finally, Hawaii’s people are empowered to tell Hawaii stories. Finally, we have a system in place to train our young people to work in the film industry. Now if only our state would move quickly to support our local filmmakers with necessary production funding and infrastructure, then we could be positioned to make our local digital media industry soar.
Q: What are your current projects?
A: I am going back to my storytelling roots by recording stories from my own life for a proposed podcast series called “Wild Wisdom.” I am looking for a producer or network to partner with in preparing the podcast series for national distribution.
I am one of the producers working on my husband’s feature film set in the Marshall Islands, “Until the Dolphins Fly.” It is currently in development, and we plan to be in the Marshall Islands to shoot it in late 2023 or 2024.
I am working with a group to save the Spalding House for the public by reimagining it as a creative Center for Pacific Storytellers.
I am going through all my papers, photos, programs and videos relating to the first 15 years of HIFF, which will become part of a HIFF legacy project that HIFF is organizing. This is a project dear to my heart.
Q: Any advice for up-and-coming creatives?
A: Tell a story you are passionate about and one that you can uniquely tell. Envision it finished. Know every detail of your project so well that you can walk inside it in your imagination. Perfect communicating your vision. Don’t be discouraged by the naysayers. If you can’t get through a wall, find a way to walk around it or jump over it. Persist!
Rob Kay writes about technology, sustainability, healthy aging and is the creator of Fijiguide.com. He can be reached at Robertfredkay@gmail.com.
