Cultural & Visual Literacy Program

The Cultural & Visual Literacy Program (CVLP) provides free theater screenings of outstanding films that are rarely available in Hawaii. These films are applicable to many subjects; teachers in previous years have incorporated CVLP films into classes ranging from social studies and language arts to media production and character education. Whenever possible, HIFF invites the film’s director to participate in a post-screening discussion with students.

Students may be required to read subtitles. Schools will be responsible for their own transportation. One adult chaperone will be required for every twenty students. Open to students grades 7 to 12 on Oahu.

 

Lucky

Tuesday, October 16, 2012 – 9:45am at Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18
2011 South Africa | Directed by: Avie Luthra
English, Hindi, Zulu with English Subtitles | 100 min.
View LUCKY Trailer

This touching film from South Africa weaves a simple yet profound story of an unlikely friendship between two people brought together by fate. LUCKY tells the tale of ten-year-old South African orphan Lucky, who leaves his village to make it in the big city. However, upon arrival Lucky discovers that the reality of his new situation is not what he had envisioned.

Promised a stable home, and an education, Lucky arrives to find an uncle who is only interested in the money he can get for Lucky’s care. Quickly, Lucky finds himself in a dire situation with nowhere to go. Yet just when all seems lost, hope arrives in the form of a formidable Indian woman living down the hall…

Directed by Avie Luthra, LUCKY is a tale of overcoming both adversity and prejudice. In LUCKY, Luthra manages to masterfully bring to life the complex cultural dynamics of modern South African all told through the lens of one child on the margins of society.

 

The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i (formerly titled THE 1800)

9/13/12 – Unavailable – Theater Full
Thursday, October 18, 2012 – 9:45am at Pearl City Cultural Center
2012 United States | Directed by: Ryan Kawamoto
English, Japanese with English Subtitles | 60 min.

“The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai’i”

Within 48 hours of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawai’i authorities arrested several hundred local Japanese in O’ahu, Maui, Hawai’i and Kaua’i. They were Buddhist priests, Japanese language school officials, newspaper editors, business and community leaders. Within a few months over 1,800 men and women of Japanese ancestry were arrested, detained and incarcerated in Hawai’i and later sent to the Department of Justice and War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps on the continental U.S. There was no evidence of espionage or sabotage and no charges were ever filed against them.

While the story of the mass internment of Japanese Americans in California, Oregon and Washington has been well documented, very little is known about the Hawai’i internees and the confinement sites located in Hawai’i. This is the first full-length documentary to chronicle this untold story in Hawai’i's history.

 

 

Porco Rosso

8/26/12 – Unavailable – Theater Full
Friday, October 19, 2012 – 9:45am at Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18
1992 Japan | Directed by: Hayao Miyazaki
Japanese with English Subtitles | 94 min.
View PORCO ROSSO Trailer

The setting is 1920′s Italy, just after World War I, and the skies are ruled by daring sea-plane pilots of all sorts — soldiers, bounty hunters, and pirates, all who after a hard day’s work convene at Gina’s island café to kick back, relax, and hear the lovely Gina sing. An unwritten truce between all men, no matter what vocation, is always in effect at Gina’s.

The bravest pilot known at Gina’s cafe, however, isn’t even really a man at all. He’s Porco Rosso, a once-human pilot with the heart of a lion, the cunning of a wolf, and the head of a pig. Porco is envied and hated by many, partially for his unsurpassed skill in flying, and partially for his friendship with Gina, and partially for his apparent apathy towards “humans’ politics” even as the fascists are establishing their power. Such popularity could prove dangerous as Porco suddenly finds himself beset by pirates seeking revenge, fascists seeking his blood, and a jealous suitor seeking what he loves most in life.

PORCO ROSSO is a true must-see film, by master animator Hayao Miyazaki and the famed Ghibli Studio. –Raphael See