Hawaii International Film Festival
The Hawai'i International Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii.
HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is held annually in Honolulu over November, with additional screenings and events held across the Hawaiian Islands of Oahu, Hawai'i, Kaua’i and Maui. The festival also holds a smaller Spring Showcase in March, and runs education and industry events throughout the year.
In 2018, HIFF welcomed over 44,000 attendees.
History
HIFF was founded in 1981 by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko as a project of the East-West Center located at the University of Hawai'i Manoa campus in Honolulu. Due to this academic association, HIFF prominently featured academic seminars and discussions in its early years, and was delivered free to the public. The relationship between HIFF and the East-West Center ended in 1994. Film critic Roger Ebert had a close personal relationship with the festival and frequently attended prior to his death.The festival has premiered such movies as A Leading Man, Once Were Warriors, The Piano, Shine, Shall We Dance?, Y Tu Mama Tambien and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
In 2018, HIFF launched its virtual reality program, with a focus on Asian-Pacific and environmental storytelling.
Sections
From its early history, HIFF has maintained a programming focus on films from the Asia-Pacific, with an emphasis on new and emerging filmmakers.- HIFF Extreme: a program of genre, horror and midnight movies run over the festival.
- HIFF Virtual Reality: launched in 2018, features a public program of virtual reality and 360-degree video experiences, with a focus on Asian-Pacific content.
- Made in Hawai’i: a showcase of local short and feature filmmaking from the state of Hawai’i.
- New American Perspectives: a program of films produced by immigrant filmmakers and artists, produced in partnership with The Vilcek Foundation.
- Pacific Showcase: a program of films from Pacific Islander filmmakers, produced in partnership with Pacific Islanders in Communication.* Spotlight on China
- Southeast Asian Showcase
- Spotlight on Hong Kong: this section often features prominent auteurs and figures from Hong Kong, with honorees such as Wong Kar-wai and John Woo.
- Spotlight on India
- Spotlight on Japan: HIFF’s largest program section, with 17 feature films in 2019 ranging from arthouse to mainstream releases.
- Spotlight on Korea
- Spotlight on Taiwan
Awards
Honors
HIFF annually honours filmmakers for outstanding contributions to world cinema and the arts. The Halekulani Career Achievement Award is given to filmmakers with an established body of work for significant contributions to the arts. The Halekulani Maverick Award is given to accomplished artists and filmmakers with unconventional career trajectories, often to rising stars of the global film industry. The Pacific Islanders in Communications Trailblazer Award honours a cinema artist of Pacific Islander descent for producing award-winning work in independent and global cinema. Previous honourees include Taika Waititi, Maggie Cheung, Samuel L. Jackson, Sonny Chiba, Ken Watanabe, Wong Kar-Wai and Awkwafina.Kau Ka Hōkū Award
The Hawaiian Airlines Kau Ka Hōkū award is HIFF’s main competitive prize, and is awarded to emerging filmmakers for their first or second feature film by an international jury.Made in Hawai’i Film Awards
The Made in Hawai’i Film Awards is presented by the Hawaii Film Office for feature and short films produced by local filmmakers.| Year | Film | Director | - | - | - |
| 1990 | My Aunt May | Roland Tharpe | - | - | - |
| 1991 | Hawai'i: Beyond the Feathered Gods | Paul Atkins | - | - | - |
| 1992 | Simple Courage | Stephanie Castillo | - | - | - |
| 1993 | From Hawai'i to the Holocaust | Judy Weightman / Ryan Sexton | - | - | - |
| 1994 | Ganbare | Robert Bates | - | - | - |
| 1995 | Words, Earth and Aloha | Eddie Kamae | - | - | - |
| 1996 | Lemon Tree Billiards House | Tim Savage | - | - | - |
| 1997 | E Ola Ka 'Olelo Hawai'i | Na Maka O Ka 'Aina | - | - | - |
| 1998 | Kaho'olawe | David Kalama, Jr | - | - | - |
| 1999 | Red Turtle Rising | Jay April | - | - | - |
| 2000 | Ka'ililauokekoa | Kala'iokona Ontai | - | - | - |
| 2001 | Blood of the Samurai | Aaron Yamasato | - | - | - |
| 2002 | - | - | - | ||
| 2003 | The Ride | Nathan Kurosawa | - | - | - |
| 2004 | Silent Years | James Sereno | - | - | - |
| 2005 | Fishbowl | Kayo Hatta | - | - | - |
| 2006 | Na Kamalei: Men of Hula | Lisette Marie Flannery | 2019 | Moloka’i Bound | Alika Maikau |
NETPAC Award
Since 2000, HIFF has partnered with the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema to deliver the NETPAC Award for outstanding filmmaking in Asia, and is the only film festival in the United States to present the award.| Year | Film | Director | Country |
| 2000 | Breaking the Silence | Sun Zhou | China |
| 2001 | Devils on the Doorstep | Jiang Wen | China |
| 2002 | Eyes of a Beauty | Guan Hu | China |
| 2003 | |||
| 2004 | Peep "TV" Show | Yutaka Tsuchiya | Japan |
| 2005 | Season of the Horse | Ning Cai | China |
| 2006 | Royston Tan | Singapore | |
| 2007 | Owl and the Sparrow | Stephane Gauger | Vietnam |
| 2008 | Brutus - The Adventure | Tara Illenberger | Philippines |
| 2009 | Castaway on the Moon]'] | Lee Hae-jun | South Korea |
| 2010 | Monga | Doze Chen-Zer Niu | Taiwan ROC |
| 2011 | Hanaan | Ruslan Pak | South Korea, Uzbekistan |
| 2012 | Apparition | Vincent Sandoval | Philippines |
| 2013 | Monsoon Shootout | Amit Kumar | India |
| 2014 | Titli | Kanu Behl | India |
| 2015 | The Kids | Sunny Yu | Taiwan |
| 2016 | Knife in the Clear Water | Wan Xuebo | China |
| 2017 | One Thousand Ropes | Tusi Tamasese | New Zealand |
| 2018 | Still Human | Oliver Siu Kuen Chan | Hong Kong |
| 2019 | Another Child | Yoon-Seok Kim | South Korea |
New American Perspectives (NAP)
From 2007 to 2015, HIFF partnered with the Vilcek Foundation to curate the New American Filmmakers program to celebrate the work of foreign-born filmmakers and cinema artists currently contributing to American cinema. In 2019, this program was relaunched as the New American Perspectives.| Year | Film | Delegate | Country of Birth |
| 2007 | Owl and the Sparrow | Stephane Gauger | Vietnam |
| 2007 | Finishing the Game | Justin Lin | Taiwan |
| 2007 | The Rebel | Charlie Nguyen | Vietnam |
| 2007 | The GateKeeper of Enmyoin | Reiko Tahara | Japan |
| 2007 | Max Uesugi | Japan | |
| 2008 | Chief ' | Chief Sielu Avea | Samoa |
| 2008 | Long Story Short | Christine Choy | China |
| 2008 | Vietnam Overtures | Stephane Gauger | Vietnam |
| 2008 | Prince of the Himalayas | Sherwood Hu | China |
| 2008 | Someplace Else | Kai-Duc Luong | Cambodia |
| 2008 | Ocean of Pearls | Sarab Neelam | India |
| 2009 | A Village Called Versailles | S. Leo Chiang | Taiwan |
| 2009 | Prince of Broadway | Karren Karagulian | Armenia |
| 2009 | The People I've Slept With | Quentin Lee | Hong Kong |
| 2009 | Bombay Summer | Joseph Mathew-Varghese | India |
| 2009 | White on Rice | Hiroshi Watanabe | Japan |
| 2010 | Dog Sweat | Hossein Keshavarz | Iran |
| 2010 | Au Revoir Taipei | In-Ah Lee | Germany |
| 2010 | Apart Together | Lisa Lu | Chinese-American |
| 2010 | Beijing Taxi | Miao Wang | China |
| 2011 | The Price of Sex | Mimi Chakarova | Bulgarian-American |
| 2011 | Living in Seduced Circumstances | Ian Gamazon | Filipino-American |
| 2011 | Skateistan: Four Wheels and a Board in Kabul | Nadia Hennirch | Germany |
| 2011 | Almost Perfect | Bertha Bay-Sa Pan | Taiwanese-American |
| 2011 | My Last Day Without You | Christopher Silber | Germany |
| 2012 | Valley of Saints | Nicholas Bruckman | England |
| 2012 | Indian Summer | Mridu Chandra | Indian-American |
| 2012 | Starlet | Radium Cheung | Hong Kong |
| 2012 | Paraiso | Ronan Landa | Israeli-American |
| 2012 | Daylight Savings | Goh Nakamura | Japanese-American |
| 2012 | The Life and Times of Paul the Psychic Octopus | Alexandre O. Philippe | Switzerland |
| 2013 | Mr. Pip | Andrew Adamson | New Zealand |
| 2013 | Harry Gregson-Williams | England | |
| 2013 | Escape from Tomorrow | Soojin Chung | South Korea |
| 2013 | I Learn America | Jean-Michel Dissard | France |
| 2013 | This is Martin Bonner | Chad Hartigan | Cyprus |
| 2013 | Sake-Bomb | Junya Sakino | Japan |
| 2014 | The Artist | Antoine de Cazotte | France |
| 2014 | A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night | Ana Lily Amirpour | Iranian-American |
| 2014 | Man from Reno | Ayako Fujitani | Japan |
| 2014 | Difret | Zeresenay Mehari | Ethiopia |
| 2014 | Nuoc 2030 | Minh Nguyen-Võ | Vietnam |
| 2014 | :ja:太秦ライムライト|Uzumasa Limelight | Ken Ochiai | Japan |
| 2014 | Mudbloods | Farzad Sangari | Iran |
| 2015 | Camino | Zoë Bell | New Zealand |
| 2015 | Margarita, with a Straw | Shonali Bose | India |
| 2015 | Yosemite | Gabrielle Demeestere | France |
| 2015 | Spellbound | Alfred Hitchcock | England |
| 2015 | Seoul Searching | Daniel Katz | Ireland |
| 2015 | Benson Lee | Korean-American | |
| 2015 | People are the Sky | Dai Sil Kim-Gibson | North Korea |
| 2019 | The Perfect Candidate | Haifaa al-Mansour | Saudi Arabia |
| 2019 | Asian in America | Jenny Dorsey | China |
| 2019 | Go Back to China | Emily Ting | Taiwan |
| 2019 | Lingua Franca | Isabel Sandoval | Philippines |
| 2019 | 37 Seconds'' | Hikari | Japan |