CRAIG T. KOJIMA /CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Hawai'i International Film Festival presenters and jurors
arrive to meet the press yesterday. From right are HIFF
director Chuck Boller, Emily Liu, Bey Logan, Maggie Q.,
David Cunningham, Scott Coffey, Sakai Kimura and
Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. Juror Diane Baker backed out.

Movie juror is no-show
at film festival

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Tim Ryan
tryan@starbulletin.com

Two expected guests of the Hawai'i International Film Festival were no shows as the fest started its 10-day run last night.

American actress Diane Baker, one of five jurors who was to vote for the best documentaries and feature films for the Golden Maile awards, canceled her trip to Hawaii citing safety concerns about the terrorism and anthrax scares plaguing the nation. (No anthrax has been found in Hawaii, although a mysterious package was delivered to the East-West Center from Virginia on Halloween Day.)

And Peter Fonda, who HIFF reported would be showing his 1971 remastered film "The Hired Hand" at the Waikiki 1 tonight, instead is heading to the London Film Festival. HIFF removed Fonda's film from tonight's schedule but hopes to get it for a later showing next week.

Fonda's publicist said "he never planned to attend (HIFF) and his film is not being shown in Hawaii" but at the London Film Festival.

"There must have been some tremendous confusion," she said.

When asked about Baker's absence during a news conference yesterday at the Sheraton Moana Surfrider, HIFF executive director Chuck Boller said HIFF was told that the actress had just landed a role in a television series, preventing her from attending.

Baker has not signed on for a television series, according to her representatives in Los Angeles.

Baker made her screen debut in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and most recently appeared in "Silence of the Lambs," "The Net" and "The Cable Guy," and has a cameo role in David Lynch's new film, "Mulholland Drive." She also appears in HIFF's presentation of the French/UK film "Harrison's Flowers," but is nervous about anthrax "so decided to stay home," her reps said.

Increased security after the Sept. 11 and anthrax attacks has also caused problems in getting several films, Boller said.

The Taiwanese film "The Cabbie," scheduled for at 6:45 p.m. today at the Waikiki Theater 1, is not coming. Other films removed from the schedule are the Chinese film "Peony Pavilion," and Australia's "Mullet" (3 p.m. today at Signature Windward Stadium; 6:45 p.m. Monday at Waikiki 1; and 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Signature Dole Cannery 8). HIFF is hoping to show them at a later date.

For updated information log on to www.hiff.org or call 528-4433.

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