HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
COURTESY HIFF
Among the films being presented at the 11th Annual Spring Showcase is "Mister Foe,"...
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Spring fest of films
To whet the appetite of those who plan to go to this year's Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival in October, executive director Chuck Boller promises the preceding Spring Showcase starting Friday should be a fine appetizer.
11th Annual Spring Showcase
Place: Dole Cannery multiplex
Time: Friday through April 24
Tickets: $10 general and $9 military, students and seniors
Call: 550-8457 or online at hiff.org
» See the daily line-up
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"This, our 11th year, should be more popular than ever," he said. "We've expanded to 28 films from 13 countries. Our opening night film is the sequel to 'Sunset on Third Street,' the first one being such a huge success when it premiered at our 2006 showcase. And we're closing with 'Mongol,' which was one of the nominees for Best Foreign Language Feature at the Oscars this year.
"We also have Ellen Page's new film, the Canadian-made indie 'The Tracey Fragments,' actress Helen Hunt's directorial debut 'Then She Found Me,' and the number one film in Indian history, 'Jodhaa Akbar.'"
Boller also mentioned other festival highlights as "Caramel" ("a kind of Middle Eastern 'Steel Magnolias'"); the Japanese-made "The Machine Girl" ("our programmer Anderson Le calls it roller-coaster fun, 'Kill Bill' meets 'Grindhouse'"); the Chinese wartime drama "Assembly" from "The Banquet" director Feng Xiaogang; "The Sun Also Rises," starring Jiang Wen and Joan Chen; and, one of Boller's favorites, "Son of Rambow," about a boy, raised in isolation in a puritanical religious sect in 1980s Britain who, after seeing "Rambo: First Blood," joins forces with the school bully to make their own action epic on home video.
"We're pushing matinees this year, and we're even offering matinee prices of $7 for groups of 10 or more," Boller said, "plus we've revamped the membership system, so in order to get in faster, it's better to be a member."
COURTESY HIFF
... "The Tracey Fragments" ...
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COURTESY HIFF
... "Forever the Moment." In all, 28 films from 13 countries will screen.
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Other notable films at the showcase include:
» "American Teen," a hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival that follows the lives of four teenagers in a small Indiana town -- the jock, the popular girl, the artsy girl and the geek -- over a 10-month period.
» "Honeydripper," the latest film from veteran indie filmmaker John Sayles, about a Southern blues club owner trying to save his lounge from going under.
» "The Edge of Heaven," winner of the best screenplay award at last year's Cannes Film Festival, about how the accidental murder of a reformed prostitute at the hands of a college professor's uncle leads to a search for the woman's daughter in Turkey.
» "A Gentle Breeze in the Village," based on a popular manga, follows a small group of students in a remote rural town, and in particular an impressionable teenage girl, and casts a gentle, observant eye on their daily lives and growing pains.
» "Vexille," a Japanese CGI-animated film from the creators of "Appleseed," about a female commander sent by the U.S. to investigate what's happening in an isolationist Japan that keeps an impenetrable magnetic field around itself.
» "Romulus, My Father," from actor-director Richard Roxburgh and starring Eric Bana and Franka Potente, is based on a critically acclaimed memoir about the trials and tribulations of an immigrant family in Australia.
» "Hollywood Chinese," the showcase's centerpiece film, is the latest documentary from Arthur Dong, this time about the history of Chinese Americans in the Hollywood film industry.
Hawaii International Film Festival
Friday
» Noon: "A Gentle Breeze in the Village"
» 12:15 and 6:30 p.m.: "Honeydripper"
» 3 p.m.: "The Edge of Heaven"
» 3:15 p.m.: "The Sun Also Rises"
» 6:30 p.m.: "Always: Sunset on Third Street 2"
» 9:30 p.m.: "Forever the Moment" and "Mister Foe"
Saturday
» Noon: "Jodhaa Akbar"
» 1 p.m.: "A Gentle Breeze in the Village"
» 3:30 p.m.: "Mister Foe"
» 4 p.m.: "Om Shanti Om"
» 6 p.m.: "Assembly"
» 7:15 p.m.: "Young@Heart"
» 9 p.m.: "Funuke, Show Some Love, You Losers!"
» 9:30 p.m.: "The Tracey Fragments"
Sunday
» Noon: "The Edge of Heaven"
» 12:15 p.m.: "Forever the Moment"
» 3 p.m.: "American Teen"
» 3:15 p.m.: "Funuke, Show Some Love, You Losers!"
» 6 p.m.: "Wonderful Town"
» 6:15 p.m.: "Assembly"
» 9 p.m.: "The Machine Girl"
» 9:15 p.m.: "The Sun Also Rises"
Monday
» 3 p.m.: "Young@Heart"
» 3:15 p.m.: "Wonderful Town"
» 6:15 p.m.: "Son of Rambow"
» 6:30 p.m.: "Hollywood Chinese"
» 8:45 p.m.: "Miss Gold Digger"
» 9 p.m.: "Up the Yangtze"
Tuesday
» Noon: "Lucky Miles"
» 12:15 p.m.: "Up the Yangtze"
» 3 p.m.: "Miss Gold Digger"
» 3:15 p.m.: "Assembly"
» 6:15 p.m.: "Closed Note"
» 6:30 p.m.: "Then She Found Me"
» 8:45 p.m.: "Radio Dayz"
» 9 p.m.: "The Tracey Fragments"
Wednesday
» Noon: "Jodhaa Akbar"
» 3:30 p.m.: "Then She Found Me"
» 4 p.m.: "Closed Note"
» 6:15 p.m.: "Romulus, My Father"
» 6:45 p.m.: "Radio Dayz"
» 8:45 p.m.: "Vexille"
» 9:15 p.m.: "Lucky Miles"
April 24
» Noon: "Om Shanti Om"
» 3 p.m.: "Romulus, My Father"
» 3:30 p.m.: "Then She Found Me"
» 6:30 p.m.: "Mongol"
» 9 p.m.: "Vexille"
» 9:15 p.m.: "Caramel"