Home » Movies and Video Articles » Hawaii International Film Festival and the Vilcek Foundation Present Free Film Series in September
Hawaii International Film Festival and the Vilcek Foundation Present Free Film Series in September
Films and Trailers from 'American Immigrant Filmmakers on Profile' To Screen on NGN Video-On-Demand Channel 680.
HONOLULU, HI, September 19, 2009 /Movies and Video PR News/ -- Films and Trailers from ³American Immigrant
Filmmakers on Profile² To Screen on NGN Video-On-Demand Channel 680
HONOLULU (August 17, 2009) The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF)
is inviting movie enthusiasts to view a FREE September film series On-Demand
in conjunction with Nippon Golden Network (NGN). The series will feature
³American Immigrant Filmmakers on Profile² on NGN-On-Demand Channel 680 from
September 1st - 30th and will be free of charge throughout the entire month
thanks to the generosity of The VILCEK Foundation. The program comprises
four films by American immigrant filmmakers that screened at HIFF 2007 and
2008, including THE GATEKEEPER OF ENMYOIN: ACCORDING TO A 95-YEAR-OLD
FEMALE BUDDHIST PRIEST, LONG STORY SHORT, SOMEPLACE ELSE, and VIETNAM
OVERTURES. Viewers will also get the chance to watch the accompanying
trailers for these films. Plus, five trailers for films to be screened at
this year¹s festival that have American immigrant directors or lead actors
will also be available for viewing. The VILCEK Foundation has also included
a PSA. The Foundation honors the contributions of immigrants to biomedical
science and the arts. Rick Kinsel, Executive Director of The VILCEK
Foundation, said, "Immigrants have unique stories to tell, and these films
help us expand our understanding of and appreciation for the tenacity of
these men and women, who have the courage to start their lives over here in
the U.S. - often against tremendous odds. The films also serve to remind us
all that we have much to be grateful for, even in the darkest of times."
³Films allow people who would otherwise know nothing about a different
country or culture to appreciate the lives of others,² added Chuck Boller,
executive director of HIFF. ³It allows almost anyone to have a voice and
that is very powerful! We want to share these great stories and are grateful
to The VILCEK Foundation for making these films available to viewers for
free.² To view any of these feature films, tune into NGN-On-Demand on
channel 680 anytime in September. Wait for the menu to load then use the
left and right arrow buttons to select the ³HIFF² category. Next, use the up
and down arrow buttons to select a title. To order your film, press the ³B²
button. You may also view title descriptions of the film with the select
button. Anytime during playback, you may use the VCR buttons on the remote
control to rewind, pause, and fast forward. The VILCEK Foundation honors
and supports foreign-born scientists and artists who have made outstanding
contributions to society in the United States. For more information on The
VILCEK Foundation please visit www.vilcek.org
_http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1012158439=1586033=BA46=394988=0=
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vilcek.org%2F_ . For more information on HIFF please visit
www.hiff.org
_http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=1012158439=1586033=BA46=394988=0=
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hiff.org%2F_ . NGN AIFP Film Lineup: THE GATEKEEPER OF
ENMYOIN: ACCORDING TO A 95-YEAR-OLD FEMALE BUDDHIST PRIEST (HIFF 2007)
When she is seven years old, Teijun Ogawa is given to a Shingon Buddhist
temple. Cut off from her family, she becomes a rare niso (female priest)
and, eventually, builds her own temple, Enmyoin, in rural Southwestern
Japan. Over eighty years later, the proud niso shares her story with
U.S.-based Japanese filmmaker, Reiko Tahara. Intrigued by Teijun¹s seemingly
free spirit, Reiko looks to her for guidance as she reflects upon her own
journey for freedom‹as an immigrant, a wife, and a mother (she is married to
the film¹s co-producer and co-director, Max Uesugi). What she did not expect
was that the niso steadfastly refused to share her view as a woman‹it¹s as
if the subject is taboo‹and she dies before filming is complete. But perhaps
she left a clue about how she really felt in her choice of successor. Even
more miraculously, Teijun managed to find a young woman to head her temple
after her death. Why and how did she find a young female priest in this
modern Japan? When Reiko revisits Enmyoin to find Teijun¹s unspoken
feelings, the film shifts from a simple portrait to a genre-bending
detective documentary with rich narrative flavor and spiritual sustenance,
offering a fascinating glimpse into female priesthood in male-dominant
Japanese Buddhist culture. United States, Japan 2007/English, Japanese with
English subtitles/157 Minutes Filmmaker: Reiko Tahara & Max Uesugi
Bio After immigrating from Japan, Reiko Tahara and Max Uesugi founded Mrex
Productions in 1994 -- a collaborative filmmaking partnership based on a
strong belief in the power of media to promote mutual understanding and
learning among people.Their short film, REMNANTS (1995), was shown at many
festivals including SXSW, the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival and the NY
Asian American International Film Festival. In 2007, HIFF presented their
new film, THE GATEKEEPER OF ENMYOIN: ACCORDING TO A 95-YEAR-OLD FEMALE
BUDDHIST PRIEST, which they wrote, directed and produced as partners. LONG
STORY SHORT (HIFF 2008) LONG STORY SHORT tells the story of Larry and
Trudie Long, a popular husband-and-wife nightclub act of the '40s and '50s.
Narrated by their daughter, actress Jodi Long, the film traces the couple's
rise from the Chinatown nightclub circuit to a coveted appearance on "The Ed
Sullivan Show." When Jodi is cast in the Broadway revival of "Flower Drum
Song," a show that had cast her father in the original version 40 years
earlier, her parents find themselves revisiting a past they had buried long
ago. Combining a family story with show business history and the ravages of
racism, it is a story of pain, passion, and perseverance. United States
2008/English/53 Minutes Filmmaker: Christine Choy Bio Christine Choy was
born in Shanghai, China. She has received over 60 international awards
including an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary and a Best Cinematography
Award at Sundance. Choy has produced/directed/photographed more than 70
works that have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, Life Time, and others. Her works
have also been featured in multiple international film festivals, including
Berlin, Cannes, and Toronto, as well as Asian American festivals. She is the
founding director of the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong
Kong. SOMEPLACE ELSE (HIFF 2008) For some, it is the pursuit of making a
dream come true. For others, it is the one chance at documenting their lives
in the city before parting with it. And for the rest, it is about learning
something new, or being part of a project that will allow them to use media
that stirs their interest. Part musical documentary, part personal
meditation, SOMEPLACE ELSE is the engaging portrait of a soul-blues-funk
musician from the South Side of Chicago captured through the lens of the
director's personal film journal. Weaving the narrative, photographic and
lyrical content of the music in an unconventional and rhythmic way, this
feature debut transforms the visual experience of a documentary into a
fresh, captivating journey of many facets. France, United States
2008/English/70 Minutes Filmmaker: Kai-Duc Luong Bio Born in March 1975 in
Phnom-Penh, Cambodia, Kai-Duc Luong, his mother and two brothers arrived in
Paris in June 1976 shortly after his father¹s death. As a teenager, Luong
lived a studious life in France until coming to America in 1997 as an
exchange engineering grad student. He has been perfecting his artistic and
filmmaking skills for the past 10 years, making festival-winning shorts,
gallery-specific video installations, and modern music videos such as THE
FROGS (2007) for French electro-pop label Recordmakers. VIETNAM OVERTURES
(HIFF 2008) A chronology of the state of classical music in Vietnam, East
meets West when a cultural exchange program introduces a Norwegian music
ensemble to Vietnam for the first time, and they play a joint concert in
Saigon with the city symphony orchestra. Vietnam 2008/Vietnamese/64 Minutes
Filmmaker: Stephane Gauger
Bio
Born in Saigon and raised in Orange County, California, Stephane Gauger
received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and French Literature. His
love of cinema moved him onto film sets, where he trained in film lighting
under Matthew Libatique, ASC. Gauger subsequently worked in the camera and
lighting departments on independent films in the U.S. and Southeast Asia,
including Sundance winner THREE SEASONS, while honing his writing and
directing craft on short narrative and documentary films. OWL AND THE
SPARROW, his first feature, received the NetPac Award at HIFF 2007.
NGN trailer lineup for HIFF 2009 films:
BOMBAY SUMMER
Bombay Summer explores the fleeting friendship between three young people
and its eventual disintegration in the face of betrayal and personal loss.
At the center of the story is Geeta, a young, middle-class woman, adept at
balancing the needs of family and life in modern India. She is in the middle
of a secret affair with Jaidev, a struggling writer who comes from a rich,
traditional family. Their lives take a dramatic turn when they befriend a
young migrant, Madan. Even though they come from different backgrounds, the
three bond as friends. Interweaving stories of their personal lives, the
film follows their journey of self-discovery and loss. United States
2009/102 min. Director: Joseph Mathew-Varghese Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee,
Jatin Goswami, Samrat Chakrabarti, Gaurv Dwivedi AIFP Guest: Joseph
Mathew-Varghese THE PEOPLE I'VE SLEPT WITH THE PEOPLE I'VE SLEPT WITH
portrays a promiscuous woman who finds herself with an unplanned pregnancy
and needs to figure out who the baby¹s daddy is...NOW. Angela Yang loves
sex. She loves it so much she needs to make baseball cards of her lovers to
help her remember where she's been. She doesn't think twice about her
lifestyle until she finds out that she's pregnant. Her gay best friend,
Gabriel Lugo, tells her to "take care of it," but her conservative sister,
Juliet, persuades Angela to get married to the baby's father and lead a
"normal" life like her. Angela listens to her sister, chooses to keep the
baby, and goes on a quest to find the identity of the father by any means
necessary. Canada, Hong Kong 2009/100 min. Director: Quentin Lee Cast:
Karin Anna Cheung, Wilson Cruz, Archie Kao, Lynn Chen AIFP Guest: Quentin
Lee PRINCE OF BROADWAY PRINCE OF BROADWAY is the story of Lucky and Levon,
two men whose lives converge in the underbelly of New York's wholesale
fashion district. Lucky, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, makes ends meet by
soliciting shoppers on the street with knock-off brand merchandise. Levon,
an Armenian-Lebanese immigrant, operates an illegal storefront with a
concealed back room where counterfeit goods are showcased to interested
shoppers. Lucky's world is suddenly turned upside down when a child is
thrust into his life by a woman who insists the toddler is his son. While
Lucky copes with his new domestic dilemma, Levon struggles to save a
marriage that is falling apart. The seedy side of the wholesale district is
revealed through a journey that continually confronts the interplay between
what is fake and what is real. United States 2008/102 min. Director: Sean
Baker Cast: Prince Adu, Karren Karagulian, Aiden Noesi, Keyali Mayaga AIFP
Guest: Karren Karagulian (lead actor) A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES A
VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES is a full-length documentary about Versailles, a
community in eastern New Orleans first settled by Vietnamese refugees. After
Hurricane Katrina, Versailles residents impressively rise to the challenges
by returning and rebuilding before most neighborhoods in New Orleans, only
to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill
just two miles away. A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES recounts the empowering
story of how this group of people, who had already suffered so much in their
lifetime, turns a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a
chance for a better future. United States 2009/68 min Director: S. Leo
Chiang Cast: Father Vien Nguyen, Mimi Nguyen, Minh Nguyen, Ngo Minh Khang,
Joel Waltzer, Cynthia Willard-Lewis AIFP Guest: S. Leo Chiang WHITE ON RICE
Jimmy is 40, divorced, and shares a bunk bed with his 10-year-old nephew.
For most men, this state of affairs would be ego-crushing, but Jimmy is
strangely unperturbed. Despite an utter lack of social finesse, he embarks
on an enthusiastic mission to replace his ex-wife with someone better.
Assisted by his suave friend Tim, he wrangles dates with all the women in
his office (without success) and completely flubs a set-up arranged by his
sister Aiko. But worst of all, his carefree attitude provokes the ire of
Aiko's straight-laced husband, Tak, who is quickly losing patience with
Jimmy's freeloading. Jimmy hardly seems to notice, and when Tak's beautiful
niece Ramona comes to visit, he begins to court her shamelessly. In addition
to reading her diary, he pays his nephew to draw her portrait (passing it
off as his own), and tries to give her a ride by breaking into Tak's car.
Finally, when Jimmy shirks his responsibility to the family in order to
follow Ramona to a party, the resulting mayhem causes everyone to take
another look at how they relate to one another. United States 2009/86 min.
Director: Dave Boyle Cast: Hiroshi Watanabe, Nae, Mio Takada, Lynn Chen,
James Kyson Lee, Justin Kwong, Joy Osmanski AIFP Guest: Hiroshi Watanabe
(lead actor) Festival information Established in 1981, the Hawaii
International Film Festival is dedicated to the advancement of understanding
and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North
America through the medium of film. HIFF is the premier international film
event in the Pacific and has won the praise of governments, filmmakers,
scholars, educators, programmers and film industry leaders throughout the
world. For the discovery and exhibition of Asian and Pacific features,
documentaries and short films in the nation, it is a primary source. The
festival has premiered such movies as ONCE WERE WARRIORS, THE PIANO, SHINE,
SHALL WE DANCE, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Plus,
DEPARTURES, a Japanese film, had its U.S. premiere at HIFF in 2008, won the
HIFF Audience Award and then went on to win the 2009 Academy Award for Best
Foreign Language Film. HIFF¹s major sponsors include: Regal Entertainment
Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii, Halekulani, Hawaii Tourism
Authority and The VILCEK Foundation. The 2009 Hawaii International Film
Festival will be held October 15-25. For more information please visit our
website at www.hiff.org
Media Contact:
Lincoln Jacobe, 808.237.3676
Chimaine Pouteau, 808.237.3678
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