FILM
COURTESY CINEMA PARADISE
Born in the Bronx, hip-hop is massive the world over. French b-boys dance up a storm in "Planet B-Boy."
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Edgier films take to isle screens
The Island Independent Film Festival opens with a Cannes winner about Rwanda
After the usual hoopla surrounding the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival has died down, the other, edgier fest takes its place.
Island Independent Film Festival
Presented by Cinema Paradise
Place: NextDoor, 43 N. Hotel St.
Time: Thursday through Sunday, starting at 6 p.m.
Tickets: $10, with a $60 all-access pass also available, good for reserved seating and entry into all festival parties (available at thirtyninehotel, 39 N. Hotel St.)
Call: 953-0002 or online at whatiiff.com or CinemaParadise.org
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If you're a film buff who happens to get this HiLife section Thursday afternoon, make a concerted effort to check out the opening night film of this year's Island Independent Film Festival. It features a laudable effort by Korean-American director Lee Isaac Chung that was an unexpected hit at this year's Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section.
When Chung went to the African nation of Rwanda on a peace mission, he then decided to make a movie with friends. About $40,000 later, and working with a cast of improvising nonprofessionals, the resulting "Munyurangabo (Liberation Day)" has been wowing its audiences.
A Variety review calls Chung's film "an astonishing and thoroughly masterful debut (which is) the finest and truest film yet on the moral and emotional repercussions of the 15-year-old genocide that wracked Rwanda." Two teen boys -- friends from the opposing Hutu and Tutsi tribes -- come to terms with their ethnic differences when they visit one of the boys' family farm.
That film is followed by the winner of the Grand Jury prizes for best documentary and best cinematography in the independent film competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Shot in Brazil, Jason Kohn's "Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)" follows a Brazilian politician who uses a frog farm to steal billions of dollars, a wealthy businessman who spends a small fortune bulletproofing his cars, and a plastic surgeon who reconstructs the ears of mutilated kidnapping victims.
Speaking of the aforementioned LVHIFF, the locally made feature "All for Melissa," which got a couple of well-attended screenings there, gets yet another on closing night Sunday, followed by the documentary "Planet B-Boy," which goes inside the global underground hip-hop dance scene as crews from around the world prepare for international competition.
Schedule
Thursday
» 6 p.m.: "Munyurangabo (Liberation Day)"
» 8 p.m.: "Manda Bala"
» 10 p.m.: Opening night party
Friday
» 6 p.m.: "Lost in Beijing"
» 8 p.m.: "In Search of a Midnight Kiss"
» 10 p.m.: After party with DJ Dan
Saturday
» 6 p.m.: Showdown in Chinatown finals
» 10 p.m.: Party with DeShannon Higa and grOOve.imProV.arTiSts
Sunday
» 6 p.m.: "All for Melissa"
» 8 p.m.: "Planet b-boy"
» 10 p.m.: Closing night party and B-Boy showcase with Nocturnal Sound Crew
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