Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) showcase undiscovered talent in short film program
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on October 14, 2009 under Hawaii International Film Festival | 
A scene from Adam Pesapane's animated short WESTERN SPAGHETTI
Some of the most talented moviemakers began their film careers with a short film and every year, the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF)will showcase and award undiscovered talent. This year, HIFF features an impressive collection of 77 short films from directors across the globe, containing diverse genres and subject matter and includes a strong showing from talented local filmmakers.
Over 170 films from 36 different countries will be featured at this year’s festival. HIFF’s 2009 program is being held at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters from October 15-25.
FILM SYNOPSES
SHORTS PROGRAM #1
16-Oct 5:45PM Dole
THE ARCHIVE - Paul Mawhinney has amassed what has become the world’s largest record collection but due to health issues and a struggling record industry Paul is being forced to sell his collection.
Director: Sean Dunne, USA, 2009, 8m
BLUE TARP CITY - BLUE TARP CITY takes a closer look into the recent spike of the Hawaiian-houseless population. Imagine post-card beaches, prime coastal property and the displacement of hundreds of indigenous people.
Director: Henry Mochida, USA, 2009, 16m
THE DWELLING - This short documentary looks at the community of homeless Tokyoites who are ignored, but have a strong presence in culture.
Director: Sheldon Candis, USA, 2009, 16m
HALF KENNETH - Kenneth, a Japanese American during WWII, hatches a plan to escape from the internment camps and find his Caucasian mother.
Director: Ken Ochiai, USA, 2009, 22m
MOTOO - Meet Motoo, a spirited visiting professor and Obama volunteer from Japan, who knocked on more than 1,100 doors over the course of the campaign.
Director: Adele Pham, Bao Nguyen, USA, 2009, 6m
PARALLEL ADELE - Two half-Vietnamese documentary filmmakers, both named Adele, weave a shared narrative of mixed Asian experiences through interviews with seven other mixed race subjects.
Director: Adele Pham, USA, 2008, 16m
POCKETS - Filmmaker James Lees asks Londoners to share what they’re carrying in their pockets and what it means to them.
Director: James Lees, United Kingdom, 2008, 3m
SUSPENDED - This film documents and re-contextualizes the experience of suspended time among a cross-section of people.
Director: Kimi Takasue, USA 2009, 9m
SHORTS PROGRAM #2
16-Oct 4:00 PM Dole
CODSWALLOP - Based on a series of postcards sent by the filmmaker to their son and featuring a collection of surreal characters at crucial moments in their briefly glimpsed stories.
Director: Greg McLeod, Myles McLeod, United Kingdom, 2008, 4m
HE.SHE.IT - A teacher misbehaves to save his last two pupils.
Director: John Alsop, Australia, 2008, 16m
INTOXICANT - An Internet forum called the “BDD Forum System” is threatened with destruction by a hacker named “Intoxicant.”
Director: John Hsu, Taiwan, 2008, 26m
LIKE CRAZY - Sinta and Arjuna, a pair of lovers, reunite after a breakup period. Back together, a big showdown ensues in this post-modern re-interpretation of the classic Ramayana.
Director: Sanif Olek, Singapore, 2008, 11m
LOVE YOU MORE - Two teenagers are drawn together by the Buzzcocks’ single ‘Love You More’ during the summer of 1978.
Director: Sam Taylor Wood, United Kingdom, 2008, 15m
TOP GIRL - Brixton rude girls Donna and Felicia are inseparable best friends. Truthful, tender and brutally comic, TOP GIRL tells a story of girls growing up in a man’s world.
Director: Rebecca Johnson, United Kingdom, 2008, 18m
WESTERN SPAGHETTI - Everyday objects become delicious ingredients as we learn how to cook spaghetti through stop-motion photography.
Director: PES, USA, 2009, 2m
SHORTS PROGRAM #3
17-Oct 5:30 PM Dole
DANSE MACABRE - For a period of time, while we believe it to be perfectly still, lifeless flesh responds, stirs and contorts in a final macabre ballet.
Director: Pedro Pires, Canada, 2009, 9m
EGGBABY - A teenage Catholic schoolgirl named Allison Chin, is confronted with her parents sexuality, an eggbaby project, and for the first time with the attention of a guy.
Director: Nadine Truong, USA, 2009, 20m
HOW I MET YOUR FATHER - There’s a story behind every couple.
Director: Alex Montoya, Spain, 2009, 9m
I DON’T SLEEP I DREAM - A woman tries to escape from a car accident she’s caused, only to find that she’s left a part of herself behind.
Director: J.P. Chan, USA, 2009, 15m
A MATE - Pera wants to try something kinky in the bathroom, so he asks his mate to help him. However, Pera’s wife comes home a bit too soon…
Director: Teemu Nikki, Finland, 2009, 8m
MIRACLE FISH - 8 year old Joe has a birthday he will never forget. After friends tease him, he sneaks off to the sick bay, wishing everyone in the world would go away.
Director: Luke Doolan, Australia, 2009, 18m
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS (Q&A) - During a Q&A session with an upcoming young director who visited Korea for a special screening of his film, one guy keeps asking questions as the translator of the event tries to find ways to finish this torturous Q&A session.
Director: Jude Jung, South Korea, 2009, 9m
STONES - Nihipali is tired of living alone with her husband and she believes that they should befriend the newcomers to the island. Her husband forbids it. He blames them for their people’s departure. But the loneliness is unbearable for Nihipali.
Director: Ty Sanga, USA, 2009, 20m
SHORTS PROGRAM #4
18-Oct 6:45PM Dole
3 WHEELS - This is a story about two polar opposite men who discover they have more in common than they could have ever been imagined at first glance.
Director: Tony Wei, China, 2009, 16m
APHRODITE’S FARM - When the Aphrodite’s Farm patriarch dies, the future of the farm is thrown into jeopardy and the arrival of young farm hand Friday creates even more chaos before finally bringing the family’s destiny full circle.
Director: Adam Strange, New Zealand, 2008, 15m
CAREFUL WITH THAT POWER TOOL - A young boy discovers the fun of power tools in his father’s dangerous workshop.
Director: Jason Stutter, New Zealand, 2008, 2m
THE FADING LIGHT - A young man returns to Vietnam decades after he left the country, to retrieve a reminder of his brother.
Director: Thien Do, Vietnam, 2009, 22m
KEHUA - On returning to his Maori home for the first time, a young boy discovers he has a gift for seeing Maori spirits - but he must gather all his strength to understand their messages.
Director: Wiremu Grace, New Zealand, 2009, 13m
LAYOVER, ON THE SHORE - Two parallel stories of contemporary Honolulu that explore the theme of transition and tensions between real and imagined notions of paradise.
Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi, USA, 2009, 25m
SUMMER BREAKS - The story of two friends as they wander the neighborhood streets on a summer’s day. When day turns to night, things get a little more interesting than they expected.
Director: Sean Kruck, USA, 2008, 12m
SHORTS PROGRAM #5
17-Oct 9:15PM Dole
AJUMMA! ARE YOU KRAZY? - A zany comedy that follows the misadventures of three Korean drama fanatics.
Director: Brent Anbe, USA, 2009, 26m
THE BRANCH WILL NOT BREAK - Frank is a regular guy who is looking for the one big score that will change his life.
Director: Fabio Cordoso, USA, 2009, 25m
PATU IHU - A young man explores a memory of a childhood game and a lesson learned from his uncle.
Director: Summer Agnew, New Zealand, 2008, 15m
RIP SMART - Animated Hawaiian Action Sports star Rip Smart wins the Surf Tour Championship then sets a speed record as he and his Team save the World from the sinister Harry Czar.
Director: Steve Bristow, USA, 2009, 22m
TEN FOR GRANDPA - A fast-paced look at the life of a most influential ancestor, David Karr. The narrator tries to decipher if Grandpa was a manipulative antihero or simply a victim of a McCarthy witch hunt.
Director: Doug Karr, Canada, 2009, 7m
HOLOMUA - With land being sold off to foreign hands at an alarming rate, a disconnect develops between Hawaiians and their spiritual connection to the aina.
Director: Vince Keala Lucero, USA, 2009, 8m
SHORTS PROGRAM #6
18-Oct 8:30PM Dole
A SONG FOR OURSELVES - An intimate journey into the life and music of Asian American Movement troubadour Chris Iijima.
Director: Tadashi Nakamura, USA, 2009, 35m
THE LYCHEE THIEVES - Arnie and Ethel grow paranoid and territorial when Keoki, a Hawaiian man who would rather surf than work, offers to pick the lychee tree growing in their backyard.
Director: Kathleen Man, USA, 2009, 35m
ACM NIGHT
23-Oct 7:45PM Dole
DOG AND CAT - A fun story about a brother and sister stuck together in the family van on a hot winter’s day in Hawai’i while taking care of their senile uncle.
Director: Robert K. Omura, USA, 2009, 11m
FLOWERS, CHOCOLATES, AND CANDLELIT DINNERS - Determined to show just how serious he is about the relationship, a young man plans on showing his love by relying on the “classic romantic gestures.”
Director: Priscilla Stafford, USA, 2009, 12m
JIXIANG JUNCTION - Two stories about two different girls set in the heart of Jixiang, a suburb of Shanghai, where they each begin in one place and end in another.
Director: Kevyn Fong, Gloria Pan Huijia, China, 2009, 10m
LI HING MUI, LILIKOI, & LYCHEE - This is the story of two young boys on a lazy summer day on the north shore and their quest to find shave ice. Through their journey, they learn that when you do things for yourself you don’t get very far, but when you do things for others, that’s when you truly succeed.
Director: Lauren Cheape, USA, 2009, 11m
LIVE TONIGHT - Miki’ala is surrounded by his Hawaiian culture and language, but being raised on Oahu, he wants to be more like everyone else, more American.
Director: Aina Paikai, USA 2009, 9m
LULU - Nicole gets a surprise one day from her parents, a cute puppy, which she names Lulu. This begins a beautiful, everlasting friendship.
Director: Brittany Itsuno, USA, 2009, 4m
WATCH YOUR TONGUE - This film is about a 13 year old boy who goes to a soccer tryout dreaming that one day he will play in the Hawaiian soccer league, but his handicapped father who has a high temper, stands in the way.
Director: Nasser Marghalani, USA, 2009, 16m
SHANGHAI UNIVERSITY SHORTS
23-Oct 1:30PM Dole
AFFAIRS - A boy falls asleep in a furniture store only to wake up next to an unknown woman.
Director: Kaiyuan Xu, 2009, 7m
APPLE & MASK - Directed by Shanghai University student, Gloria Pan, this is the second part to JIXIANG JUNCTION.
Director: Gloria Pan, 2009, 8m
LIFE FOR RENT - After several house-hunting attempts, a woman meets a single landlord by chance. One fateful encounter pushes these two hearts together.
Director: Ying Shen, 2009, 30m
RISE FROM THE ASHES -A documentary about the living conditions and emotions of the survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.
Director: Shijun Zhu, 2009, 35m
THE PEARL MILK TEA - One day Wan Lin finds out she is pregnant. Now, her future and her relationship with her boyfriend becomes unclear as she faces the uncertainties of life.
Director: Xiaoxiao Liu, 2008, 27m
STUDENT SHORTS
24 Oct 10:AM Dole
CANOE PULLING, A LUMMI WAY OF LIFE
Directed by Sara London, Britney Oldham
PATSY MINK: A LEGACY OF BREAKING THROUGH SOCIAL BARRIERS
Directed by Thuy Ny Le
SIX QUICK FIXES
Directed by Cory Garguilo
IT’S WORTH IT TO WAIT
Directed by Catherine De Huff
WHAT IS LIFE
Directed by Bernard Fayloga
PATIENCE
Directed by Kevin Lopez
SHRIMP
Directed by Robert Delim
A RIDE TO REMEMBER
Directed by Adam Kostylo
FROM HUSKING TO HUSTLING
A FYI Films Student Production
SECOND CHANCES
A FYI Films Student Production
VIDEO ON DEMAND - VIEWERS CHOICE AWARD: Powered by Oceanic Time Warner Cable and Presented by Central Pacific Bank - Viewer voting starts Thursday, October 1st and runs until Monday, October 19th at midnight.
AJUMMA! ARE YOU KRAZY? - A zany comedy that follows the misadventures of three Korean drama fanatics.
Director: Brent Anbe, USA, 2009, 26m
BLUE TARP CITY - BLUE TARP CITY takes a closer look into the recent spike of the Hawaiian-houseless population. Imagine post-card beaches, prime coastal property and the displacement of hundreds of indigenous people.
Director: Henry Mochida, USA, 2009, 16m
THE BRANCH WILL NOT BREAK - Frank is a regular guy who is looking for the one big score that will change his life.
Director: Fabio Cordoso, USA, 2009, 25m
FLOWERS, CHOCOLATES, AND CANDLELIT DINNERS - Determined to show just how serious he is about the relationship, a young man plans on showing his love by relying on the “classic romantic gestures.”
Director: Priscilla Stafford, USA, 2009, 12m
DOG AND CAT - A fun story about a brother and sister stuck together in the family van on a hot winter’s day in Hawai’i while taking care of their senile uncle.
Director: Robert K. Omura, USA, 2009, 11m
HOLOMUA - With land being sold off to foreign hands at an alarming rate, a disconnect develops between Hawaiians and the aina.
Director: Vince Keala Lucero, USA, 2009, 8m
STONES - Nihipali is tired of living alone with her husband and she believes that they should befriend the newcomers to the island. Her husband forbids it. He blames them for their people’s departure. But the loneliness is unbearable for Nihipali.
Director: Ty Sanga, USA, 2009, 20m
RIP SMART - Animated Hawaiian Action Sports star Rip Smart wins the Surf Tour Championship then sets a speed record as he and his Team save the World from the sinister Harry Czar.
Director: Steve Bristow, USA, 2009, 22m
LAYOVER, ON THE SHORE - Two parallel stories of contemporary Honolulu that explore the theme of transition and tensions between real and imagined notions of paradise.
Director: Christopher Makoto Yogi, USA, 2009, 25m
CHINATOWN PROJECT: HONOLULU
FREE SCREENING
23-Oct 7:00 PM Chinatown
THE CHINATOWN FILM PROJECT (CFP) tackles Chinatown’s elusiveness and its stereotyped representations by constructing new images for the viewer. The project started in New York City, where some of the NYC’s most exciting filmmakers were asked to present their unique vision of this global icon. Now it’s HIFF’s turn. Partnering with Showdown in Chinatown, HIFF presents an outdoor screening of CFP shorts from NYC as well as locally made award-winning shorts from the September edition of Showdown.
USA, 2009, Various with English Subtitles, 70m
MUSIC VIDEO SHOWCASE
23-Oct 6:15 PM Dole
BJORK: WANDERLUST (UK, 2008, 8 min)
BOA: EAT YOU UP (South Korea, 2008, 3 min)
BURAKA SOM SISTEMA FEAT. DJ ZNOBIA, M.I.A., SABOROSA & PUTO PRATA: SOUND OF KUDURO (Portugal, 2008, 4 min)
CHAIRLIFT: EVIDENT UTENSIL (USA, 2008, 3 min)
COLDPLAY: STRAWBERRY SWING (USA/UK, 2009, 4 min)
DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE: GRAPEVINE FIRES (USA, 2009, 3 min)
DIZZIE RASCAL: BONKERS (UK, 2009, 3 min)
LA ROUX: BULLETPROOF (UK, 2009, 4 min)
MGMT: KIDS (UK, 2009, 6 min)
NEUROSONICS AUDIOMEDICAL LABS INC. (UK, 2009, 5 min)
OLD ‘97S: DANCE WITH ME (USA, 2008, 4 min)
OREN LAVIE: HER MORNING ELEGANCE (USA, 2009, 3 min)
SIA: SOON WE’LL BE FOUND (USA, 2008, 4 min)
SOUR: HIBI NO NEIRO (Japan, 2009, 4 min)
V.V. BROWN: LEAVE! (UK, 2009, 4 min)
WE ARE SCIENTISTS: IMPATIENCE (UK, 2008, 3 min)
ZOÉ: REPTILECTRIC (Mexico, 2009, 4 min)
