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This year's Sundance was an interesting year, with the documentaries being the strongest component of the programming and some gems from the narrative feature sections. I was in full marathon mode, viewing a total of 35 films in 8 days. I am a little film fatigued. But, it was a fun year, and a couple of blizzard days aside, the weather was amazing and the atmosphere in Park City was crackling with energy as usual. I was fortunate to stay in a big cabin at Deer Valley Resorts, just a couple of miles north from Main Street. Rap star Little Wayne was my neighbor!

Anyway, here's my top film picks (in no particular order):

I hope you were watching the Golden Globes this past weekend, since Hawaii walked away with the prize for the Best Motion Picture - Drama category for THE DESCENDANTS, with George Clooney also winning the Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama category. We showed many of the top nominated films here at HIFF last fall, and we're eagerly awaiting the release of the nominations for the Academy Awards, which will happen on January 24th.

Also of note is that THE ARTIST (EuroCinema Hawaii) won the Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical category, and also Best Original Score and Best Actor for Comedy/Musical by Jean Dujardin. Not many people had heard about this film when it played at HIFF, but with the exposure from the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards we're sure you'll get another chance to see it in Hawaii.

Some other HIFF shown nominated films and actors/actresses which have a good shot at an Oscar nomination are: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (Tilda Swinton) and THE KID WITH A BIKE (Belgium), also from our EuroCinema Hawaii selection.

Here is a selection of photos highlighting various events that happened during the 31st Hawaii International Film Festival presented by Halekulani.

Opening Press Conference at RumFire, Sheraton Waikiki.	Opening Night Party at Halekulani
Justin Cravalho, Luke Aguinaldo, Warren Daubert - HumanHand, designers of this year's HIFF Key Visual.	Featured bartenders at a private Disaronno Amaretto event during the festival.
Meet the Filmmakers reception at RumFire #1	Meet the Filmmakers reception at RumFire #2
An Afternoon With Hawaii 5-0 - Alex O'Laughlin, Daniel Dae Kim & Grace Park	An Afternoon With Hawaii 5-0, held at Halekulani. HIFF executive director Chuck Boller, and programmer Anderson Le with cast and crew from Hawaii 5-0.
Actress Tamlyn Tomita with Chairman of the HIFF Board of Directors, Owen Ogawa and his mother.	Vilcek Foundation Executive Director Rick Kinsel (center) with 4 filmmakers from the American Immigrant Filmmakers on Profile section.
Award winning filmmakers Adam Pesce (Splinters), Prashant Bhargava (Patang), Ruslan Pak (Hanaan) with a representative from awards sponsor Tiffany & Co.	The annual Governor's Reception, held at Washington Place, where the HIFF awards were announced this year.
HIFF award winning filmmakers and Masato Harada (director of festival hit Chronicles of My Mother) at HIFF's closing press conference.	Visiting filmmakers enjoying the festival's closing party at Sam Choy's Breakfast, Lunch and Crab restaurant.
Alexander Payne, director of HIFF's Closing Night film THE DESCENDANTS, and Kaui Hart Hemmings, writer of the novel the film was based on.	Honolulu mayor Peter Carlisle and HIFF executive Direcor Chuck Boller present Alexander Payne with this year's Vision in Film award.

The weekend after the Hawaii International Film Festival presented by Halekulani concludes on O'ahu, there will be screenings at the Palace Theatre in Hilo. There is one new film for Hilo, not playing on O'ahu. It is FAMILY OF THE WA'A, a documentary about a group of people who paddled a canoe across 1750 miles of the Hawaiian archipelago. Here's the schedule: 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28
7:00 PM - MY KOALOHA STORY

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29
1:00 PM - PACIFIC SHOWCASE SHORTS
4:00 PM - FAMILY OF THE WA'A
7:00 PM - ALOHA BUDDHA + MINKA

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 30
12:00 PM - GUZAARISH
3:00 PM - THELMA
6:00 PM - SUBJECTIVE EXPRESSIONS

One of the most lavish events of the Hawaii International Film Festival is the HIFF awards and Governor's Reception at Washington Place. The festival gives out a variety of awards decided by guest jurors (both local and international). Washington Place used to be the home of the governors in Hawaii, but recently has been mainly used for special events.

Guests were treated to a catered event with Chinese cuisine, fresh fruit and vegetables. There was also a wine and beer station. Many directors, crew and stars from the movies at the festival attended this event.