Jake scores

The ukulele master produces music for an HIFF feature film

Ukulele player par excellence Jake Shimabukuro has added another notch on his belt of professional accomplishments -- he's scored his very first feature film, "Hula Girls."

'Hula Girls' Closing night film features performance by Jake Shimabukuro On screen: 7:30 p.m. Sunday Place: Hawaii Theatre

The Japanese film is the closing-night feature of the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival, and will feature an appearance by Shimabukuro.

The ukulele master spoke with enthusiasm about his debut film project, although he said he was hesitant when the film's director and producer asked him to handle all the music for the project. "But then I thought I couldn't pass up this great opportunity. But I initially had no idea what I was going to do."

Shimabukuro was sent an English version of the script, which he says sold him on the film. Originally titled "Hula Garu," the true tale is a gentle comedy about how a group of coal miners' daughters who became hula dancers in 1965, when their small, depressed mining town was remade into a fanciful "Hawaiian Village" attraction.

"They then sent me DVD clips of the scenes they wanted me to score. I came up with the idea of doing mini-compositions. I started writing a lot of things that didn't include ukulele, like piano and strings and guitar. I then worked with studio musicians in Japan and Hawaii, and worked with vocalists as well, such as Jennifer Perry and Miho Teruya."

It took about to seven months to complete the score.

"The most challenging thing for me was having to watch the movie while recording. It was tricky ... trying to time everything to what was on screen. I'm used to just dictating what I want emotionally in my music. Here, I let any particular scene dictate the music."

A soundtrack CD has already been released in Japan, and Shimabukuro said that the movie is being considered as Japan's nominee for the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

"I saw it for the first time at a screening in Japan about two months ago and I really enjoyed it. It has a strong cast and a really beautiful story, very touching and heartwarming. Even though it was all in Japanese with no English subtitles, it still brought tears to my eyes."