Our guide to what to watch at HIFF42! We Hope to see you at our annual and this year back in person WĀHINE IN FILM MIXER on Nov 5, 2022 from 11 to 1:00 pm.
To get your HIFF tickets, go to: https://hiff.org
Friday 11/4/22 | Saturday 11/5/22 | Sunday 11/6/22 | Monday 11/7/22 | Tuesday 11/8/22 | Wednesday 11/9/22 | Thursday 11/10/22 | Friday 11/11/22 | Saturday 11/12/22 | Sunday 11/13/22
Friday 11/4/22
LIQUOR STORE DREAMS | by So Yun Um
Tracing from the ‘92 LA Uprisings to the current day BLM movement, LIQUOR STORE DREAMS is an intimate portrait of two Korean American children of liquor store owners who set out to bridge generational divides with their immigrant parents in Los Angeles. 11/4/2022 5:45 PM
MAMA’S AFFAIR | Kearen Pang
Mei-Fung gave up her career as a top recording artist manager years ago when her son was born. Though she has had a fulfilling life as a housewife and mother, her son is almost grown and she is separated from her husband. Just when she decides to take a part-time job, she unexpectedly discovers a young singer named Ching with incredible talent. But when she goes all-in to make Ching the star she believes he is, she draws jealousy and ire from her son. Can a single mother find a balance between her family and her career? Is her dedication driven by love or responsibility? 11/4/2022 6:00 PM
A TALE OF TWO SISTERS | Angelique Kalani Axelrode MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 1
Blending narrative and movement-based storytelling, two sisters must overcome the tension in their relationship. Inspired by the mo’olelo of Hi’iakaikapoliopele. 11/4/2022 6:00 PM Virtual access from 11/1/22
KRONOS | Ara Laylo MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 1
Daniel wakes up in an empty house in the middle of nowhere, experiencing different levels of emotional revelations. He is welcomed by a voice that leads him towards unraveling layers of trauma. 11/4/2022 6:00 PM
LAHI | Reina Gabriela Bonta MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 1
Culturally disconnected Mimi returns to Oʻahu for her grandmother’s memorial service. When preparing the house to be sold, she finds ornate plates addressed to her grandmother’s friend. Racing against the clock to make her return flight to California, Mimi reluctantly embarks on a journey to deliver them. Along the way, she meets elders whose stories about Filipino identity turn her worldview upside down. 11/4/2022 6:00 PM
PŌ'ELE WAI (DARK WATER / AS THE WATER DARKENS) | Tiare Ribeaux MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 1
A weaver navigates between survival and her connection to the ‘āina (land) while a mysterious rash grows on her body. While working as a house cleaner, she becomes entranced by a mysterious painting inspired by a Hawaiian creation story. As her rash worsens, she experiences a transformation when she realizes her drinking water has been poisoned by fuel leaking into the island’s watersheds. 11/4/2022 6:00 PM
RACKET | Zoe Eisenberg MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 1
When professional circus clown Lo rage-ends her relationship with her performing and romantic partner moments before they’re meant to take the stage, she is forced to improvise a solo act with a tennis racket. 11/4/2022 6:00 PM
FASHION REIMAGINED | Becky Hutner
FASHION REIMAGINED follows Powney’s trajectory from outsider to industry leader as she sets out to create a collection that’s ethical and sustainable at every level, from fiber to finished garment. Powney’s journey will take her from idyllic Uruguayan sheep pastures to an Austrian garment factory powered by steam, exposing the mind-boggling complexity and waste created by the global supply chain at every turn. 11/4/2022 6:15 PM
WOMEN TALKING | Sarah Polley
In a hayloft on a prairie far away some Mennonite women gather to conspire. They have choices—just like us: they could stay silent and do nothing; they could stand up and fight; or they can leave. 11/4/2022 6:45 PM
Saturday 11/5/22
THE LAST RODEO | Liz Barney, Alison Week
A young Hawaiian cowgirl must choose between leaving for college on the mainland or staying in Hawai’i to continue her family’s legacy. 11/05/2022 2:00 PM
STONEWALLING | Huang Ji, Ryuji Otsuka
20 year-old Lynn is told she needs English classes, flight attendant school, and a go getter-attitude. She perseveres along this path of upward mobility until she finds out she’s pregnant. Indecisive and running out of time, she tells her boyfriend she’s had an abortion and instead returns to her feuding parents and their failing clinic to try and figure out (if she can) what’s next. 11/05/2022 2:30 PM
SURF NATION | Jessica Q. Chen, Jeremiah M. Bogert Jr.
As surfing enters the Olympics for the first time in history in 2021, China molds its first generation of surfers at a state-run sports academy located in Hainan. Alex and Lolo, two promising young surfers, navigate adolescence, freedom and their love of the sport and in hopes to be future Olympians. 11/05/2022 6:00 PM
KĀINGA | Michelle Ang, Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, HASH, Nahyeon Lee, Angeline Loo, Asuka Sylvie, Yamin Tun, Julie Zhu.
KĀINGA concludes the trilogy of anthology films from New Zealand producing duo Kerry Warkia and Kiel McNaughton (WARU, VAI) under the production support of NZ On Air and the New Zealand Film Commission. Eight stories by eight Asian female filmmakers explore the immigrant experience of eight Asian women in Aotearoa. Writers and directors from Māori-Chinese Aotearoa, China, Philippines, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar and Tamil Eelam, explore the historical connection to tangata whenua, feelings of isolation, community support in lieu of family, home precarity, excitement about making home, longing to be “back home”, being othered at home, and finally claiming home. Each 10-minute story, set in the same house across several decades. 11/05/2022 7:00 PM
Sunday 11/6/22
WOMEN TALKING | Sarah Polley
In a hayloft on a prairie far away some Mennonite women gather to conspire. They have choices—just like us: they could stay silent and do nothing; they could stand up and fight; or they can leave. 11/6/2022 12:00 PM
FASHION REIMAGINED | Becky Hutner
FASHION REIMAGINED follows Powney’s trajectory from outsider to industry leader as she sets out to create a collection that’s ethical and sustainable at every level, from fiber to finished garment. Powney’s journey will take her from idyllic Uruguayan sheep pastures to an Austrian garment factory powered by steam, exposing the mind-boggling complexity and waste created by the global supply chain at every turn. 11/6/2022 12:30 PM
WILDCAT | Melissa Lesh, Trevor Beck Frost
Harry, a British Afghan war vet crippled by depression and PTSD, arrives at an animal rescue program deep in the Peruvian jungle and finds solace while nurturing an orphaned baby ocelot whom he is preparing for reentry into the wild. He’s assisted by the project’s creator Samantha—-a brilliant, academically trained American conservationist with her own anguished family history. They soon strike a romance, driven by a cause, but also hampered by past psychological scars and trauma. As Harry begins taking steps toward emotional health, he finds the jungle a brutal proving ground, with poachers, clear-cutters, and non-human predators all around, and loneliness stalking his psyche. Harry needs the animals as desperately as the animals need him, and even they may not be enough.11/6/2022 1:00 PM
STONEWALLING | Huang Ji, Ryuji Otsuka
20 year-old Lynn is told she needs English classes, flight attendant school, and a go getter-attitude. She perseveres along this path of upward mobility until she finds out she’s pregnant. Indecisive and running out of time, she tells her boyfriend she’s had an abortion and instead returns to her feuding parents and their failing clinic to try and figure out (if she can) what’s next. 11/06/2022 7:30 PM
Monday 11/7/22
INHERITANCE | Erin Lau MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 2
A struggling nature photographer is forced to confront the pain his family has carried for generations. 11/7/2022 6:00 PM
MANŌ | Brittany Biggs MADE IN HAWAII SHORTS 2
Seen through the eyes of a tiger shark in Hawaiian waters over hundreds of millions of years, Manō illustrates the human impact on sharks and coral reefs. 11/7/2022 6:00 PM
KĀINGA | Michelle Ang, Ghazaleh Golbakhsh, HASH, Nahyeon Lee, Angeline Loo, Asuka Sylvie, Yamin Tun, Julie Zhu.
Eight stories by eight Asian female filmmakers explore the immigrant experience of eight Asian women in Aotearoa. Writers and directors from Māori-Chinese Aotearoa, China, Philippines, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Myanmar and Tamil Eelam, explore the historical connection to tangata whenua, feelings of isolation, community support in lieu of family, home precarity, excitement about making home, longing to be “back home”, being othered at home, and finally claiming home. 11/07/2022 3:45
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED | Laura Poitras
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground- breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis. 11/7/2022 8:00 PM
Tuesday 11/8/22
LIQUOR STORE DREAMS | So Yun Um
Tracing from the ‘92 LA Uprisings to the current day BLM movement, LIQUOR STORE DREAMS is an intimate portrait of two Korean American children of liquor store owners who set out to bridge generational divides with their immigrant parents in Los Angeles. 11/8/2022 3:15 PM
WILDCAT | Melissa Lesh, Trevor Beck Frost
Harry, a British Afghan war vet crippled by depression and PTSD, arrives at an animal rescue program deep in the Peruvian jungle and finds solace while nurturing an orphaned baby ocelot whom he is preparing for reentry into the wild. He’s assisted by the project’s creator Samantha—-a brilliant, academically trained American conservationist with her own anguished family history. They soon strike a romance, driven by a cause, but also hampered by past psychological scars and trauma. As Harry begins taking steps toward emotional health, he finds the jungle a brutal proving ground, with poachers, clear-cutters, and non-human predators all around, and loneliness stalking his psyche. Harry needs the animals as desperately as the animals need him, and even they may not be enough.11/8/2022 4:45 PM
LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE | July Jung
Leonor Reyes was once a major player in the Filipino film industry after creating a string of successful action films, but now her household struggles to pay the bills. When she reads an advertisement looking for screenplays, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script. While her imagination provides some escape from reality, she goes all-in after an accident involving a television knocks her out, sends her into a coma, and transports her inside the incomplete movie. 11/08/2022 7:30 PM
THE FIVE DEVILS | Léa Mysius
Vicky, a strange and solitary little girl, has “special powers:” she can reproduce any scent she likes, and collects them in a series of carefully labeled jars that trigger her to travel through time and space. She has secretly captured the scent of Joanne (Adèle Exarchopoulos from BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR), her mother for whom she nurtures a wild, excessive love. When her father’s sister Julia bursts into their life, Vicky reproduces her smell and is transported into dark and archaic memories which lead her to uncover the secrets of her village, her family and her own existence.11/8/2022 7:45 PM
NEXT SOHEE | July Jung
Young Sohee (Kim Si-eun) is a bubbly, tenacious vocational high-school student with a fiery temperament living in rural Korea. She is excited when she lands an externship at a major internet provider’s call center, but the prized office job turns out to be a nightmarish workplace. She is placed under immense pressure from the company to reach the best team target. 11/8/2022 8:00 PM
Wednesday 11/9/22
SWEET AS | Jub Clerc
With problems on the home front, 16-year-old Murra (Shantae Barnes-Cowan) is on the verge of lashing out. That is, until her policeman uncle averts her self-destructive behavior with a lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids” in Pilbara Country in Northwest Australia. 11/9/2022 6:00 PM
TO THE END | Rachel Lears
At this critical moment in our history, stopping the climate crisis is a question of political courage. TO THE END follows the intersecting stories of four women of color who are key players in the rise of the Green New Deal— an ambitious plan to address climate change, and economic and racial justice in the process. Against the volatile backdrop of the 2020 election, the pandemic, an economic crisis, and historic protests, these young leaders must work together to defend their generation’s right to a future. 11/09/2022 6:30 PM
GAGA | Laha Mebow
Autumn and Winter are falling upon the tribal village and reverberating through Hayung’s family whole life to worshiping the deity GAGA. However, after his passing, the tradition has been forgotten. Disinterested in this way of life, his eldest son Pasang joins in the local election campaign, ignoring opposition from his family. Meanwhile, his granddaughter Ali falls unexpectedly pregnant. All of a sudden, the entire family is on the verge of falling apart...Will they mend their relationships in time for Spring? 11/9/2022 7:30 PM
ONE FINE MORNING | Mia Hansen-Løve
Sandra (Léa Seydoux) is a widowed young mother raising her daughter on her own, while also caring for her sick father (Pascal Greggory). She’s dealing with the loss of the relationship she once had with her father, while she and her mother and sister fight to get him the care he requires. At the same time, Sandra reconnects with Clément (Melvil Poupaud), a friend she hasn’t seen in a while and, although he’s married, their friendship soon blossoms into a passionate affair. 11/9/2022 8:15 PM
Thursday 11/10/22
MAMA’S AFFAIR | Kearen Pang
Mei-Fung gave up her career as a top recording artist manager years ago when her son was born. Though she has had a fulfilling life as a housewife and mother, her son is almost grown and she is separated from her husband. Just when she decides to take a part-time job, she unexpectedly discovers a young singer named Ching with incredible talent. But when she goes all-in to make Ching the star she believes he is, she draws jealousy and ire from her son. Can a single mother find a balance between her family and her career? Is her dedication driven by love or responsibility?11/10/2022 3:15 PM
WHINA | Paula Whetu Jones, James Napier Robertson
For nearly a century, Dame Whina Cooper’s voice never stopped asserting the rights of her people – land rights, women’s rights, education rights – and striving for unity between Māori and Pākehā (New Zealand Europeans). 11/10/2022 8:00 PM
Friday 11/11/22
OLA KA HONUA | Jilli Rose MALAMA AINA SHORTS PROGRAM
For the past 25 years, thousands of Maui’s residents and visitors have come to volunteer at Auwahi, a storied forest on the leeward side of Haleakela volcano. By their efforts, Auwahi has gone from being a “museum forest,” a handful of centuries-old ancestor trees in a cow pasture, to a vibrant young forest where a critical part of Hawai’i’s biota has sanctuary. 11/11/2022 2:00 PM [WARD]
LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE | Martika Ramirez Escobar
Leonor Reyes was once a major player in the Filipino film industry after creating a string of successful action films, but now her household struggles to pay the bills. When she reads an advertisement looking for screenplays, Leonor begins tinkering with an unfinished script. While her imagination provides some escape from reality, she goes all-in after an accident involving a television knocks her out, sends her into a coma, and transports her inside the incomplete movie. 11/11/2022 3:00 PM
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED | Laura Poitras
ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED is an epic, emotional and interconnected story about internationally renowned artist and activist Nan Goldin told through her slideshows, intimate interviews, ground- breaking photography, and rare footage of her personal fight to hold the Sackler family accountable for the overdose crisis. 11/11/2022 3:30 PM
MIDWIVES | Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Hla and Nyo Nyo live in a country torn by conflict. Hla is a Buddhist and the owner of a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, where the Rohingya (a Muslim minority community) are persecuted and denied basic rights. Nyo Nyo is a Muslim and an apprentice midwife who acts as an assistant and translator at the clinic. Her family has lived in the area for generations, yet they are still considered intruders. Encouraged and challenged by Hla, who risks her own safety daily by helping Muslim patients, Nyo Nyo is determined to become a steady health care provider for her community. 11/11/2022 6:15 PM
FINDING HER BEAT | Dawn Mikkelson, Keri Pickett
For thousands of years women have been locked out of Taiko drumming. Not anymore. In the dead of a Minnesota winter, Asian drumming divas smash gender roles and redefine power on their own terms. FINDING HER BEAT dives into the rhythms and struggles that lead to an electrifying historic performance that changes everything. 11/11/2022 7:00 PM [DORIS DUKE]
Saturday 11/12/22
SWEET AS | Jub Clerc
With problems on the home front, 16-year-old Murra (Shantae Barnes-Cowan) is on the verge of lashing out. That is, until her policeman uncle averts her self-destructive behavior with a lifeline: a “photo-safari for at-risk kids” in Pilbara Country in Northwest Australia. Joined by three other teens – cantankerous Kylie, highly strung Sean, happy-go-lucky Elvis – and camp counselors Fernando and Mitch, Murra begins to find herself by discovering a love of photography and reconnecting with the country of her ancestors. 11/12/2022 11:00 AM
NANCY BANNICK: SAVING HONOLULU’S CHINATOWN | Robin Lung LOOKING BACK – IMAGES OF HOME
When urban renewal projects threatened to wipe out Honolulu’s Chinatown in the 1960’s-70’s, photojournalist Nancy Bannick fought to preserve the historic cultural district through her photographs and activism. 11/12/2022 2:00 PM [DORIS DUKE]
VOICES OF KAPAʻA TOWN | Christina Aiu, Franz Schmutzer LOOKING BACK – IMAGES OF HOME
A heartfelt “talk story” with kūpuna and friends as they reflect on living, growing and remaining in a small Kauaʻi town, while considering its place in history. 11/12/2022 2:00 PM [DORIS DUKE]
MY CHINATOWN, WITH ALOHA | Kimberlee Bassford LOOKING BACK – IMAGES OF HOME
Fourth-generation Chinese American Kimberlee Bassford explores her family’s relationship to Honolulu Chinatown and the parallels between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 1899-1900 bubonic plague that hit Hawai‘i, while highlighting the ways the two public health crises transformed the iconic neighborhood then and now. 11/12/2022 2:00 PM [DORIS DUKE]
BATTLEGROUND | Cynthia Lowen
BATTLEGROUND is an urgently timely window into the intersection of abortion and politics in America, following three women who lead formidable anti-abortion organizations to witness the enormous influence they wield. As the nation faces the end of Roe v Wade, the film also depicts those on the front lines of the fierce fight to maintain access. 11/12/2022 3:00 PM
ALCARRÀS | Carla Simón
In the small village of Alcarràs, Spain, the Catalonian Sole family spend every summer farming peaches together at their family orchard. Yet industrialization is invading the village and new plans of installing solar panels threaten the agricultural traditions of the family. As the doom of the orchard becomes glaringly evident, conflict erupts between the members of the intergenerational family as they each find separate ways of coping with change. 11/12/2022 3:30 PM
OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL | Ellie Foumbi
“We all have a past, Marie, but it doesn’t define us.”
OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL is a riveting psychological thriller from writer/director Ellie Foumbi that follows Marie (Babetida Sadjo), an African refugee who has found a pleasant life for herself in a small mountain town, nestled in southern france. Her idyllic yet humble existence is thrown into turmoil, however, when a charismatic priest (Souleymane Sy Savane) comes to town - a man she recognizes from the horrors of her past. 11/12/2022 4:30 PM
FINDING SATOSHI | Laurent Barthelemy
In 2005, a British company developed an alternate reality game (ARG) called Perplex City. ARGs are played in the real world and use different mediums to deliver a fictional story to players. Players had to solve 256 puzzles to win. The game ended officially in 2007. However, one card remained unsolved: A picture, a name and “Find me!” written in Japanese. A group, led by Laura Hall, never gave up. This is the story of the longest global hide and-seek puzzle game ever created. 11/12/2022 5:30 PM
PLAN 75 | Chie Hayakawa
Chie Hayakawa’s PLAN 75, which had its world premiere at Cannes, is a beautifully humanist tale that inventively uses Japan’s aging population crisis as a conceit for a dystopian tale that looks at the value of life. Legislation has passed to fix Japan’s “aging problem;” Anyone over the age of seventy-five can apply for government-funded assisted suicide (hence, the name Plan 75). 11/12/2022 6:15PM
A JOURNEY HOME | Catherine Killough PACIFIC SHOWCASE SHORTS
An animated poem written by six Marshallese students living in Springdale, Arkansas, whose native homeland was the site of 67 nuclear tests conducted by the United States between 1946-1958. The film serves as a creative journey back home, recognizing the deep and complex connections between nuclear weapons history, survival, and the creation of diaspora. 11/12/2022 7:00 PM
IDODO | Ursula Ulmi PACIFIC SHOWCASE SHORTS
Based on a legend from the Ziag Zagaz Clan of Papua New Guinea, IDODO tells the story of how reef fish got their beautiful colors. 11/12/2022 7:00 PM
RUARANGI | Oriwa Hakaraia PACIFIC SHOWCASE SHORTS
When a headstrong young Māori man finds himself captive in a palatial manor house in England, he uncovers an insidious trade. 11/12/2022 7:00 PM
OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL | Ellie Foumbi
OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL is a riveting psychological thriller from writer/director Ellie Foumbi that follows Marie (Babetida Sadjo), an African refugee who has found a pleasant life for herself in a small mountain town, nestled in southern france. Her idyllic yet humble existence is thrown into turmoil, however, when a charismatic priest (Souleymane Sy Savane) comes to town - a man she recognizes from the horrors of her past. 11/12/2022 7:30 PM
NANNY| Nikyatu Jitsu
In this psychological horror fable of displacement, Aisha (Anna Diop), a woman who recently emigrated from Senegal, is hired to care for the daughter of an affluent couple (Michelle Monaghan and Morgan Spector) living in New York City. Haunted by the absence of the young son she left behind, Aisha hopes her new job will afford her the chance to bring him to the U.S., but becomes increasingly unsettled by the family’s volatile home life. As his arrival approaches, a violent presence begins to invade both her dreams and her reality, threatening the American dream she is painstakingly piecing together. 11/12/2022 8:30 PM
Sunday 11/13/22
TO THE END | Rachel Lears
At this critical moment in our history, stopping the climate crisis is a question of political courage, and the clock is ticking. A sequel to 2019’s KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, TO THE END follows the intersecting stories of four women of color who are key players in the rise of the Green New Deal—an ambitious plan to address climate change, and economic and racial justice in the process. The film’s protagonists—Varshini Prakash (Sunrise Movement), Alexandra Rojas (Justice Democrats), Rhiana Gunn-Wright (Roosevelt Institute), and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—are all visionary young women of color who are grappling with new challenges of leadership and power. Through youth-led collective action, civil disobedience, campaigning for progressive candidates, and high-profile protests, the women and their teams work tirelessly to sound the alarm of the impending climate catastrophe. The clock is ticking. The world can’t wait. 11/13/2022 12:00 PM
WHINA | Paula Whetu Jones, James Napier Robertson
For nearly a century, Dame Whina Cooper’s voice never stopped asserting the rights of her people – land rights, women’s rights, education rights – and striving for unity between Māori and Pākehā (New Zealand Europeans). 11/13/2022 2:30 PM
MIDWIVES | Snow Hnin Ei Hlaing
Hla and Nyo Nyo live in a country torn by conflict. Hla is a Buddhist and the owner of a makeshift medical clinic in western Myanmar, where the Rohingya (a Muslim minority community) are persecuted and denied basic rights. Nyo Nyo is a Muslim and an apprentice midwife who acts as an assistant and translator at the clinic. Her family has lived in the area for generations, yet they are still considered intruders. Encouraged and challenged by Hla, who risks her own safety daily by helping Muslim patients, Nyo Nyo is determined to become a steady health care provider for her community. 11/13/2022 5:00 PM
PLAN 75 | Chie Hayakawa
Chie Hayakawa’s PLAN 75, which had its world premiere at Cannes, is a beautifully humanist tale that inventively uses Japan’s aging population crisis as a conceit for a dystopian tale that looks at the value of life. Legislation has passed to fix Japan’s “aging problem;” Anyone over the age of seventy-five can apply for government-funded assisted suicide (hence, the name Plan 75). 11/12/2022 6:15PM
SHE SAID | Maria Schrader
A testament to the power of investigative journalism, SHE SAID details the journey of reporters and editors engaged in the unrelenting pursuit of the truth and highlights the courage of survivors and witnesses who chose to come forward to stop a serial predator in his tracks. Together, their commitment and fortitude sparked a national conversation, helped propel the #MeToo movement, and fueled a reckoning of the system that had enabled him. 11/13/2022 7:30 PM
NEXT SOHEE | July Jung
Young Sohee (Kim Si-eun) is a bubbly, tenacious vocational high-school student with a fiery temperament living in rural Korea. She is excited when she lands an externship at a major internet provider’s call center, but the prized office job turns out to be a nightmarish workplace. She is placed under immense pressure from the company to reach the best team target. The work is daunting even to a gutsy girl like Sohee, and to make matters worse, externs only receive a fraction of the normal wages. Sohee is constantly threatened, but when her overworked supervisor takes his own life, it sets off a psychological descent that will lead her to commit an irreparable act. When rebellious detective Yoo-jin (Bae Doona) is brought in to investigate, what she discovers about the events that led to this dark act lead her down a rabbit hole into a world of institutionalized exploitation, corruption and neglect.11/8/2022 8:00 PM
Virtual screenings opening on Thursday 11/03/22
ALL I EVER WANTED | Erin Lau SHORTS PROGRAM: ASIAN-AMERICAN VOICES
Rom-com obsessed teen Christine has always longed for a picture-perfect romance. But she’s soon confronted with the fact that her ideal prince charming might actually be a princess charming instead.
ALL I WANT IS EVERYTHING | Allie Cuerdo SHORTS PROGRAM: NIGHT DRIVE
Fiercely driven Alice Kim battles class, race and family pressure to become a drug dealer in NYC’s wild underground rave scene.
BLURRING THE COLOR LINE | Crystal Kwok
BLURRING THE COLOR LINE follows director Crystal Kwok as she unpacks the history behind her grandmother’s family, who were neighborhood grocery store owners in the Black community of Augusta, Georgia during the Jim Crow era. The film weaves personal family stories with memories from the larger Chinese and Black communities, opening up uncomfortable but necessary conversations around anti-Black racism and the deeply rooted structure of white power and Chinese patriarchy that contributed to this sentiment.
CATCHING SPIRITS | Vanessa Beletic SHORTS PROGRAM: NIGHT DRIVE
Since childhood, Destiny has been told she has seizures when she dances. What she doesn’t know, is that she has an ancient ability - a birthright of the Haitian women in her lineage. Will dancing kill her, or unlock something magical?
EVERYTHING WRONG AND NOWHERE TO GO | Sindha Agha SHORTS PROGRAM: GREEN SCREEN COMPETITION / SHORTS PROGRAM: INDIGENOUS LENS
Plagued by overwhelming anxiety about climate change, a filmmaker decides to see a climate psychologist in hopes that she can find some peace of mind at what she’s pretty sure is the end of the world. An intimate, strikingly candid self-portrait of the intersection between climate change and mental health.
HOME | Jiwoo Zoey Lee UNIVERSITY SHORTS PROGRAM
HOME explores the variety of relationship between people and wild chickens in Hawaii. People are trying to protect their community, but wild chickens have become a huge part of it. Now we need to find a home for wild chickens, if it’s not already taken over by humans. Who can approve someone (or something) to become a member of society? How can we coexist with chickens in this city?
HOMMAGE | Shin Su-won
Ji-wan is a filmmaker at the crux of a mid-life crisis, flatlining in a middling career after her 3rd film is a flop and stuck in a loveless marriage. Then she gets a catalyst of an opportunity to jump start her career–a restoration of a 1960s classic that purportedly is directed by Korea’s first female filmmaker. This leads her on a path of self discovery, re-examining her life, her career and her relationship with her college-age aspiring poet son.
I LOVE YOU, CUSTOMER | SeoYoon Kim SHORTS PROGRAM: LOVE IN SMALL CORNERS
Call center employee Su-Yeon, coincidently meets her angry customer and plots her revenge.
KITES | Debbie Kwon UNIVERSITY SHORTS PROGRAM
A young Korean girl takes flight with a group of kites soaring through the sky.
LOOK UP TO THE STARS | Florence Jane Andres UNIVERSITY SHORTS PROGRAM
How do you tell yourself that it's time to let go? "Look Up to the Stars" is an intimate narrative drama about Raven, a sensitive Filipino daughter who must cope with the loss of her mother before she loses herself in the shadows of grief.
LUNCHBOX | Anne Hu SHORTS PROGRAM: ASIAN-AMERICAN VOICES
When a Taiwanese American woman prepares lunches from her childhood, she struggles to forgive herself for pushing away her immigrant mother.
MILLIE LIES LOW | Michelle Savill
Millie, an architecture student from Wellington, New Zealand, has landed a competitive internship with a prestigious architecture firm in New York City. Her friends, family and professors have proudly bid her farewell as she takes this next step in her career. With her life in Wellington now on hold, all Millie has to do next is get to New York. However, she is suddenly struck with a panic attack right before her plane takes off and can’t get off the ground.
NA KAMA KAI - CHILDREN OF THE OCEAN | Ju Martins SHORTS PROGRAM: GREEN SCREEN COMPETITION
A non-profit’s mission to empower youth through ocean-based education, with the goal of cultivating environmental stewardship and building future community leaders. While traveling to Brazil for their first international clinic, participants quickly realize the many ways the ocean connects us rather than divides us.
POACHERS | Tiffany Lin SHORTS PROGRAM: NIGHT DRIVE
During the summer before they must leave for college, two best friends come across a unique business opportunity: illegally harvesting and selling succulents from the California coast.
QUEEN MOOREA | Christine Fugate SHORTS PROGRAM: DIVERGENCE
An Asian American homecoming queen and her friends, all born with genetic conditions, struggle to fulfill their dreams in a world that refuses to accept them for who they are.
RESTORING NÉŠKE'EMĀNE | Loren Waters SHORTS PROGRAM: GREEN SCREEN COMPETITION / SHORTS PROGRAM: INDIGENOUS LENS
Environmentalist Damon Dunbar works to remediate the toxic landscape of a shut down Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian boarding school, with a dream of restoring the land, preserving tribal history, and honoring the attendees of the Concho Indian School in order to speak truth to history.
SILT | Emilie Upczak SHORTS PROGRAM: INDIGENOUS LENS
A Native botanist grieving the death of a beloved aunt, travels alone to northern Mexico where she is nourished by images of the last trip they took together traversing the Colorado River.
SOFT SOUNDS OF PEELING FRUIT | Shelly Yo SHORTS PROGRAM: ASIAN-AMERICAN VOICES
A coming of age story about Hayoung, a rebellious Korean American teenager, beginning to understand the complexities of her mother’s love.
SPIRIT EMULSION | Siku Allooloo SHORTS PROGRAM: INDIGENOUS LENS
Super 8 film developed with plant medicines connect earth to cosmos, as flowers portray familial love and ancestral sovereignty extending into the future.
THE VOICE ACTRESS | Anna J. Takayama SHORTS PROGRAM: DIVERGENCE
A veteran voice actress working in Tokyo possesses a unique ability to see the soul in all things, living and inanimate. The voice acting world is changing and Kingyo must find a way to reconcile her way of living with the modern industry.
THEY CALL ME SUKI | M.G. “Grace” Evangelista SHORTS PROGRAM: ASIAN-AMERICAN VOICES
Suki Terada Ports is an unstoppable Japanese American NYC elder. A conversation on action, identity, and belonging unfolds between three generations of AAPI activists and storytellers.
Virtual screenings opening on Monday 11/14/22
MADE IN HAWAIʻI SHORT 1 & 2 PACIFIC SHOWCASE SHORTS