The Hawai‘i International Film Festival returns for its 43rd edition this week, with 10 days of screenings on Oahu starting Thursday, along with meet-and-greets and panel discussions, workshops for filmmakers, and celebrations for rising stars and veterans of the industry.
A total of 186 films, from full-length features to shorts, action-oriented, dramatic and documentary will be screened during the festival. Films will be coming from more than 30 countries, from major markets like the U.S., Japan and France as well as small nations like Papua and Qatar. HIFF has always made Asian films a major focus, and this year is no different, with showcases on films from China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Japan and Southeast Asia.
More than a dozen films, including six full-length features, were created by local filmmakers. One of them, “Hometown Legends,” screening at 8 p.m. Friday at Consolidated Theatres Kahala, is a documentary about five kupuna, based on Hawaii island, who represent “generations of ancestral knowledge” about a wide range of topics, but who are also leaders in Hawaiian cultural practices, said Kolby Moser, co-director of the film with Nainoa Langer.
“That’s the kind of knowledge that unfortunately we’re losing,” Moser said. “Even outside of the thing that they practice, it’s the gift of aloha aina, knowing their place so well, and having built and invested into their communities, is what makes them remarkable.”
The film features Manuel “Manny” Veincent, a canoe crew trainer who has become a steward of Mauna Kea; Willy “Wilfred” Kaupiko, a fisherman and a community activist who has opposed development and reef destruction; Keoni Aweau Turalde, a fisherman who was paralyzed in a diving accident and became a drum-maker; Shirley Kauhaihao, who grew up helping her father with net fishing and later learned traditional hat-weaving from her grandmother; and Robert Kamuela “Sonny” Keakealani Jr., a rancher who worked at Parker Ranch.
>> RELATED: Hawai‘i International Film Festival highlights
The filmmakers were conscious of presenting their subjects as somewhat larger-than-life. “We really were intentional in framing them as ‘heroes,’ like they are, so that the younger generation would see them like heroes they see in movies,” Moser said.
Moser has had a long career in commercial filmmaking, making films for resorts, airlines and national brands, but this was her first feature documentary. With little preparation and little time — shooting lasted just 10 days — she couldn’t prepare her interview subjects for going on camera. The results, however, are candid, fresh and expansive. “We just let them share whatever they wanted to share,” she said.
Veincent wound up taking her to a special site on Mauna Kea that was covered in lava last December. Others had told Moser that he might not be so welcoming. “Anybody who has paddled for him will say he is a scary, scary 90-year-old,” she said with laugh. “He is intimidating and he can be tough on people, but he has so much love.”
She said she hopes her film will “remind people to stay grounded … and to take pride in things that take time. Everything is so fast now, but these kupuna took years to do the practices they do.”
While “Hometown Legends” will be of particular interest to Hawaii residents, the makers of another local film, “My Partner,” screening at 5:45 p.m Oct. 16 at Kahala Theatres, hope to also reach audiences outside Hawaii. Filmmakers Keli‘i Grace and Lance Collins, who is also an attorney, developed the story of two high school youths, one of Hawaiian blood and another of Filipino ancestry, who are assigned to work on a school project together. While trying to overcome various personal barriers, they also develop romantic feelings for each other.
The movie is of a genre known as “BL” (Boys’ Love), which started as a literary style in Japan and has become popular in movies throughout Asia, with each culture exploring the theme in unique ways. The genre also differs from LGBTQ films in the Western cultures, said Collins, who usually prefaces screenings of the film with a talk about BL films.
“The difference between BL and Western LGBTQ storytelling is that Asian BL focuses on the emotional life of two young men, who basically fall in love, usually unexpectedly, and the film focuses on their emotions and the quality of love,” Collins said, “as opposed to Western LGBTQ stories, which is stories about how someone relates their relationship to their identity of being LGBTQ.”
Grace said BL films are of particular interest to him and he wanted to make a film that “I could show to my parents or my family, something that could be digestible and not too far out there. So the audience I was trying to go for was, first, our audience here, but then also for outside of Hawaii.”
The film was prompted by suggestions from community groups that wanted to showcase a “slice of life” in West Maui that addressed real-life issues like overtourism and stream restoration, Collins said. “The issue of Filipinos taking the native o‘opu out of a stream that’s been restored is actually something that happened repeatedly in Maui just before COVID hit,” he said. “It created a tension between working-class Hawaiians and working-class Filipinos.”
The film features prominent use of Hawaiian and Tagalog, all by fluent speakers. The filmmakers had to make a concession in using Tagalog, since their initial preference was Ilocano, once the predominant language among Hawaii’s Filipino community. When no one stepped forward, Collins, who was a faculty member of the Ilocano language program for the University of Hawaii, eventually agreed to a casting call for Tagalog speakers. “The next day there were hundreds of responses,” he said.
The film was shot in Lahaina. Many of the sites were destroyed by the fire, giving Collins and Grace pause. “I think we’re figuring it out as we go along how to put things out there and just being mindful,” Grace said.
—
HIFF 43
>> When: Thursday to Oct. 22
>> Where: Most screenings will be at Consolidated Theatres Kahala or Consolidated Theatres Ward; go to hiff.org for details on individual films
>> Tickets: $12-$14 up to 12 hours before screening, $15 thereafter
>> Info: hiff.org
>> Note: Festival passes, which provide entry not only to films but also HIFF panels and events, are available for $100-$900. The $100 Industry Pass provides 10 tickets to the festival, a year’s membership to HIFF and a free monthly movie at Kahala Theatres.
>> Also: The festival moves to Maui and Kauai on Oct. 26-29; Lanai, Oct. 30-Nov. 1; and Hawaii island, Nov. 2-5
Correction: Lance Collins was a faculty member with the UH Ilocano language program. An earlier version of this story misidentified him and his role in the program.
