Thursday at the Festival...

Festival Programmers Anderson Le and Christian Razukas on air at the KIPO studios.

Our world premiere of PHANTOM BELOW at the Pride of the Pacific, the Hawaii Theatre.

PHANTOM BELOW helmer Brian Trenchard-Smith greeted the audience in Hawai'ian!

...and a Look Forward to Saturday!

Saturday's Schedule | Ticketing Information

OUT OF THIS WORLD is an accurate glimpse into post-war Tokyo, under U.S. martial law. Midnight Eye has a fascinating feature on this film showcasing the similarities with the film's plot and the actual production and how the micro and macro-dynamics between Americans and Japanese are still similar even in the 21st century.

Read the Star-Bulletin's feature review!

Tickets and Showtimes | Presented by the USS Missouri

"I wanted to make a film where by 10 a.m., I’d have the camera in one hand and a glass of wine in the other."

We're pleased to be screening the 2004 Cannes documentary MONDOVINO on Saturday, April 2. Filmed across three continents, in five languages, this epic exploration into the modern world of wine weaves together multiple family sagas, uncovering a complex tapestry of rivalries, alliances and conspiracies—all stemming from the production, distribution and consumption of one of the oldest, most respected, and still-affordable luxuries remaining.

"There are, he suggests, alarming parallels between the two businesses (of film and wine). Nossiter believes that just as Hollywood makes bland, standardized movies, Californian vineyards produce wine with little discernible character.

"Something very dangerous is happening. Alas, more and more European wine producers are adopting an 'easy-listening' approach and they're betraying their roots. They're making easy-drinking, international-style wine that has no character. It's a kind of 'MacDonaldisation'."

The New York Post calls MONDOVINO "an intoxicating attack on the homogenization of wines around the world — a FARENHEIT 9/11 for the oneophile set."

By the way, Jonathan Nossiter's full quote is "I wanted to make a film where by 10 a.m., I’d have the camera in one hand and a glass of wine in the other...and be able to call the producer and tell him I was working." Click here to read the full article, "The Muffled Sounds of a Good Drunk".

Official Site | Tickets and Showtimes | Presented by Wine the Experience

One of the biggest box-office smashes in its native Germany. Schultze, the lead character, is a schlub -- on early retirement waxing his lawn gnomes, playing polka on his accordion, and visiting his mother at the care home -- a non-existence until one fateful day, when listening to his short wave radio. SCHULTZE GETS THE BLUES is an enchanting and deadpan comedy about a lonely man's journey for life fulfillment that is sparked by the faint radio signals of cajun zydeco. If anything, Schultze is very much like the real life Paul Pena from he award-winning documentary GENGHIS BLUES, who picked up a faint radio wave of Tuvan music, sparking his quest to Mongolia in search of its origin. In Schultze's case, it's a fish-out-of-water zydeco quest to the rural South, U.S.A.

Read Roger Ebert's THREE AND A HALF STAR review!

Official Site | Tickets and Showtimes

"A late-career triumph for 81-year-old Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene, MOOLAADE finds the provocative filmmaker-soldier-novelist-activist tackling one of his most controversial subjects: female genital mutilation (a.k.a. female circumcision) that is still practiced in 38 African countries. Rooted, like much of Sembene's work, in classical dramatic and oral storytelling traditions, while expanding on the feminist themes that date back to his 1966 "Black Girl," this richly textured parable feels every inch the work of a master." -- Variety

Though the film deals with a very serious issue, it is anything but didactic. Jay Hoberman in the Village Voice says MOOLAADE isn't just positive; it's positively feel-good! The Seattle Weekly says MOOLAADE is a film by a director with a distinct auteurial signature, wit, psychological subtlety, and an absolute mastery of style.

And our friend Roger Ebert gave MOOLAADE a FOUR STAR REVIEW:

"This was for me the best film at Cannes 2004, a story vibrating with urgency and life. It makes a powerful statement and at the same time contains humor, charm and astonishing visual beauty."

Official Site | Tickets and Showtimes

Who is Manoel de Oliveira? It seemed inevitable that after gaining a name with the avant-garde short, DOURO, FAINA FLUVIA (1931), building a reputation with the neorealist ANIKI-BOBO (1942), acquiring critical acclaim with the literary adaptations known as the “Quartet of Frustrated Loves” (1970-77), Oliveira could abruptly fall out of favor, as he did with ILL-FATED LOVE (1977), and never recover. But instead, ever resolute, Oliveira turned prolific. He produced a-film-a-year until 1997 when THE LETTER yet another adapted novel, captured a Jury Prize at Cannes and reconfirmed himself as an artist. Now, at a sprite 97 years old, Oliveira has turned in his most compelling work yet.

Read the glowing San Francisco Chronicle review to gain insight on what is called "a potent and troubling meditation on the state of Western society."

Tickets and Showtimes

It was hailed by Quentin Tarantino as the film of the year at Cannes Film Festival 2004, where it won the Grand Prix Du Jury. Ain't It Cool News said OLDBOY is "...one of the most thrillingly disturbing and arresting works of cinema I have ever seen and is the very best film that David Fincher has never made."

While you wait for OLDBOY's official Hawaii premiere at the Spring Showcase, visit the just-launched official U.S. website. Tartan Films USA, the distributor, is giving prizes to people who send in pictures of themselves with OLDBOY tickets in hand in front of the theatre! They're also giving prizes to people who send in pictures of themselves at the theatre with an Oh Dae-su hairstyle or wig!

Official Site | Tickets and Showtimes | Sponsored by KBFD

12:30 PM MOOLAADE
1:00 PM SCHULTZE GETS THE BLUES
3:30 PM OUT OF THIS WORLD
4:00 PM TALKING PICTURE
6:30 PM CRYING OUT LOVE, IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD
7:00 PM KUNG FU HUSTLE
9:30 PM MONDOVINO
10:00 PM OLDBOY

Buy Tickets Online
Members and the general public can buy tickets online, twenty-four hours a day. Tickets are available for all shows: $9 for the general public, $7 for members of the HIFF Ohana. Members can even redeem their free ticket vouchers online. Tickets purchased online will be ready for pickup the next day at the Ticket Desk. Get started by going to the Film Listing page. Note: tickets can not be purchased online within twenty-four hours of showtime or for sold out shows. You must go to the box office.

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No Show Is Ever Sold Out!
There's always a rush line! Here's how it works: fifteen minutes prior to a film's screening time, the box office will make unclaimed seats available to the rush line on a first come, first served basis. Rush lines form one hour before showtime. Just look for the signs!

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