Hawai’i International Film Festival 2024

Photo courtesy Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF.org)

Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance. These world-famous film festivals have become as much social must and celebrity fashion runway as a platform for independent filmmakers to tell their stories. Hawai‘i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani, October 1-November 10, may not be one of the “Big Five” festivals, but with over 200 films and events across the islands, including Waimea and Hilo, HIFF has come into its own.

This year’s festival showcases 40 world premieres, including nine feature-length films made in Hawai‘i, and 24 shorts, the most they’ve ever had. One of the 172 Oscar-qualifying festivals, HIFF’s Best Made-in-Hawai‘i short will automatically be up for Academy Award consideration.

Founded in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, HIFF began as a project of the East-West Center. Because of its academic focus, films were presented free and open to the public. In 1994 the partnership concluded and the festival—and its education component—continued to evolve.

HIFF offers Youth Education Screenings, and Guest Filmmaker Programs, free to schools during the festival dates. It also provides free passes to college students and faculty in the Academy for Creative Media across the University of Hawai‘i 10-campus system. And, HIFF’s University Showcase features original short films by students, one of whom will win a scholarship funded by BMW. In April, HIFF’s ‘Ōpio Fest spotlights short films by students K-12 in any genre. Throughout the year, it presents paid internship opportunities for college students. Its student advisory committee meets twice monthly, to help shape the University Showcase and ‘Ōpio Fest, review student films, discuss education programs, and do community outreach.

Naturally, most of the action is in Honolulu, and in fact some tickets have already sold out. However, Big Island residents have the chance to see made-in-Hawai‘i films in Waimea, November 2-3, and Hilo November 7-10. Individual film screenings are about $10 per person, though prices vary and all-access passes are available for sale online Filmmakers generally accompany their works, and stay for talk story and Q&A after the screening.

HIFF on Hawai‘i Island

All feature films and shorts made in Hawai‘i unless otherwise noted. (#) indicates brief descriptions from the filmmakers below. View the full HIFF program here.

Kahilu Theatre, Waimea

November 2
12 p.m. The Shape of Things: The Dick Brewer Story (6), and Healing Lahaina
3 p.m. Made in Hawai’i Shorts: The Adventures of Kai, The Queen’s Flowers, Reclaim, Two Breaths, Water Bodies, and Kukini
6 p.m. Terrestrial (7)

November 3
12 p.m. One Million Dolla (4)
3 p.m. Shaka, A Story of Aloha (5)
6 p.m. Standing Above the Clouds (7)

Hilo Palace Theatre

Thursday, November 7
6-7:30 p.m. Standing Above the Clouds (7)

Friday, November 8
5-7:30 p.m. One Million Dolla (4)
8 p.m. Terrestrial (7)

Saturday, November 9
12 p.m. The Shape of Things: The Dick Brewer Story (6)
2:30 p.m. The Cigarette Surfboard (2)
5 p.m. TINĀ (New Zealand) (8)
7:30 p.m. Moloka’i Bound (3)

Sunday, November 10
12 p.m. Made in Hawai’i Shorts: Decoding Ancestral Knowledge, Kai Hali’a (Sea of Memory),
Kukini, Manifesto (For Concrete Poetry), The Queen’s Flowers, Woven
2 p.m. Made in Hawai’i Shorts: I’m Trying My Best Right Now Last Light, Mānoa Valley,
Two Breaths, Victoria
4:30 p.m. Shaka, A Story of Aloha (5)
6 p.m. SAG-AFTRA + Filmmaker mixer
7 p.m. Chaperone (1)

(1) Chaperone. Alienated by friends and family for her lack of ambition, 29-year-old Misha finds a dangerous acceptance in a bright 18-year-old athlete who mistakes her for a fellow student. Shot entirely in Hilo, Chaperone, from filmmaker Zoë Eisenberg, recently had its world premiere at Slamdance, where it won the Grand Jury Breakouts Award.

(2) Cigarette Surfboard. Yes, the titular surfboard in question was a prototype invented by Taylor Lane back in 2017, made up mostly of thousands of carelessly discarded cigarette butt filters for a creators contest cosponsored by Jack Johnson’s Surfrider Foundation. What happened to that winning entry makes up the bulk of this fascinating documentary as Tate continues to use the items of pollution as inspiration and statement to make a lighter, functional surfboard with the help of professional shapers and surfers.

(3) Moloka’i Bound. After years of incarceration, a wayward Hawaiian man is paroled. Fully committed to reconnecting with his family, most important to him is rebuilding a relationship with his son. But acclimating to normal life in Hawai‘i is harder than it seems and the man tends to do all the wrong things for the right reasons. In trying to prove himself worthy of his family and native heritage, his is a story of reconciliation and redemption.

(4) One Million Dolla. In this Maui-set mockumentary, Big Island content creator Alex Farnham plays the Guy, a houseless buffoon with a heart of gold. He chases chickens and sells coconuts in his happy-go-lucky existence. After receiving a surprise gift of a million dollars, a documentary crew starts following him around. Before Guy knows it, people come out of the woodwork, latching on to become his posse and he soon finds out who his real friends are.

(5) Shaka, A Story of Aloha. The La‘ie community figures large in this documentary that tries to find the origins of the state’s “Swiss army knife” of good-natured gestures. The latter part of the documentary spends a good deal of its time relating the fascinating story of community leader Tutu Hamana Kalili back in the 1910s that may have started it all.

(6) The Shape of Things. A portrait of the influential surfboard builder whose highly crafted boards made for big wave riding were coveted by professional surfers for decades. The film follows Brewer’s career, incorporating in-depth interviews and testimonials of his contemporaries, spanning many years of surfing history, all paying allegiance to the master.

(7) Standing Above the Clouds. Expanded from the 2020 short film, three intergenerational Indigenous Hawaiian families seek to protect their native land and sacred mountain, the towering inactive volcano Mauna Kea, from the construction of the world’s largest telescope. Director Jalena Keane-Lee and producers Amber Espinosa-Jones and Erin Lau worked with Hawai’i Island residents to tell the story, including Pua Case, Hāwane Rios, Kapulei Flores, Mehana Kihoi, Tali Kihoi, Leina‘ala Sleightholm, Kahaili Sleightholm, Patricia Ikeda.

(7) Terrestrial. The first alien monster movie independently made on the Big Island! And, of course, the story happens during Halloween! A high school science teacher from California, unable to find a friendly community, instead tries to find some semblance of respect when he discovers the creature living in a lava tube. Big fun for all as Alex Farnham (ONE MILLION DOLLA) and his cast and crew go for broke.

(8) TINĀ. Anapela Polata’ivao is brilliant in this nuanced drama that’s the directorial debut of Miki Magavisa. A well-respected gifted vocal coach in her community, Mareta finds herself at a crossroads, needing to find work three years after the tragic death of her daughter, a death that she’s still processing. She goes out of her comfort zone to become a substitute teacher at an elite, all-white private school and forms a choir that begins her healing as a matriarch and caregiver.

Yes, you can stream an infinite number of films at home. But not these, not yet. And what’s wrong with getting up off the recliner and calling it Date Night? Hold hands in the dark, enjoy the big screen and the big sound, with laughter and applause surrounding you. And don’t forget the popcorn.