Moore’s ‘Moonglow’
By Tim Ryan
premiere set
Star-Bulletin"Moonglow," the made-in-Hawaii feature film by KHON news anchor Joe Moore and advertising executive Dennis Christianson, will have its world premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival next month.
"Moonglow," starring Hollywood veterans Milo O'Shea, Joanna Cassidy, Ione Skye and Eileen Brennan, is one of six films chosen for HIFF's Gala Presentations at the Hawaii Theatre and one of 70 full-length features in the festival.
The "Moonglow" premiere will be held 6:30 p.m. Nov. 7 at the Hawaii Theatre. Admission will be $6 general; $5 for Hawaii Film Fans members, students, military, seniors and Pacific Islanders in Communication members. Tickets are available by calling 528-HIFF.
In the 92-minute film, Moore portrays Matthew Duncan, 54, a man going through a night of personal crisis. In the course of a single night he "must come to grips with despair, loss and even death," Christianson said. "Everything comes to a head for him and he must face that pain."
Moore said that although he considered some elements of the story autobiographical, that wasn't what attracted him to the piece.
"The real appeal is that so many people will be able to relate to the story and the tumultuous feelings he experiences," Moore said.
"Unlike so many of today's films that are aimed a teen-agers, 'Moonglow' is a movie for grownups, and we feel the less audiences are told about it beforehand, the more they'll enjoy its surprises as they unfold on the screen."
The film, which cost less than $1 million to make, was produced through Moore and Christianson's Latitude 20 Pictures. Moore is executive producer; Christianson directed and wrote the screenplay based on a story by Jonathan Daly.
Parts of the film were shown this summer to test audiences in Honolulu, Los Angeles and Seattle. The testing was necessary, Christianson said, because they worried during the editing process that they had lost their perspective after having "lived with these words for 18 months."
As a result of the testing, some 20 minutes of film were cut, "making it tighter and more focused," Christianson said. "The shorter we made it, the better the comments got."
"Moonglow" was filmed entirely on location in Hawaii by cinematographer Larry Reibman. Hoku Award-winning vocalist Amy Hanaiali'i Gilliom appears in the film, singing the title song. Steven Ray Allen composed and conducted the original score.
"Moonglow" will open its commercial run in Hawaii early next year, Christianson said.
Admission to neighbor island screenings are $5/$4 on the following dates. More HIFF program and ticket information can be found at http://www.hiff.org.
Kauai Community College Performing Arts Theater, 6:30 p.m. Nov. 17.
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