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Film festival
looking good

The Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival's 25th anniversary event, from Oct. 20 to 30, looks like its best ever. Not only has its organizers got Samuel L. Jackson to attend, but also two top directors. Ang Lee ("The Hulk," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") will be there, bringing his latest film, "Brokeback Mountain," which just took top honors at the Venice Film Festival, as well as Zhang Yimou ("House of Flying Daggers," "Hero").

Audiences also will see Katherine Hepburn's rarely screened last film, a "writer's cut" of 1985's "The Ultimate Solution of Grace Quigley." HIFF director Chuck Boller met the film's screenwriter Martin Zweiback at a Cine-Asia Symposium in Bangkok, Thailand where both were on a panel. The film screens Oct. 24.

And a free " 'Lost': An Insiders Look" seminar will be part of the fest, featuring four cast members, including Daniel Dae Kim and Jorge Garcia, and two producers, likely Jack Bender and Jean King ...

THE N network's Oahu-based half-hour series "Boarding School" has been retitled to "Makaha Surf." Newest cast members are Ross Thomas and Jason Tam. Exec producer Sean McNamara directed Thomas in "Cutting Edge 2." "Makaha Surf" will air in April 2006 ...

Oahu's North Shore is the backdrop for Abercrombie & Fitch's spring 2006 catalog, shot by photographer Bruce Weber. Weber will shoot from Oct. 2 through 7 at two beachfront homes, Kawela Bay, Waikane Pier, and around the Turtle Bay Resort, where models and crew are staying. As many as 70 people are involved in the project, including local production manager Marilyn Mick ...

Universal Pictures' "You, Me, and Dupree" starring Kate Hudson, Owen Wilson and Nick Nolte films here Oct. 7 to 15, mostly on the north and west sides. Local casting agent Anna Fishburn is hiring extras -- as many as 400 -- including about 270 for the film's opening wedding scene ...

The Fiji government paid half the cost to transfer from digital video to 35mm film "The Land Has Eyes" by Hawaii filmmaker and University of Hawaii professor Vilsoni Hereniko so it could be entered for Oscar consideration ...