Hey folks - a quick update! To fulfill the Christmas rush demand for Shiro's Head DVD's, we've added two more on-island locations for those of you on Guam.
Great news, everyone! The Shiro's Head DVD is now available for purchase! For those of you on Guam, you can check out Bestseller Bookstore at the Micronesia Mall (if they still have some copies left over) or you can also purchase your copies online at the official Shiro's Head website for $14.99. Thank you to all those that have purchased their copies - Don and I thank you so much for your support and we wish you all a very Happy Holiday Season! We hope you enjoy!
Louis Vuitton Hawaii Intl. Film Festival (LVHIFF) Diary
Day Five (Last Day)
Thursday, October 16th
10:00am hour
It's our last day today. The sun is shining, the temperature is perfect and we're leaving. At least attempting to leave. Before turning in last night, I checked the flight loads for today and it looks possible. It doesn't look like we're guaranteed a seat on the flight, but it's about 60/40, our chances being 40, not 60. But, I checked us in online anyway. We're packing all our junk right now. Aaron and Bob said they'd ride along in the shuttle with us to the airport to see us off.
11:00am hour
Our flight leaves at 2:15pm, so we need to get there by 1pm or so I guess. No real rush since we only have carry-on baggage and we're travelling on standby status. Our shuttle shows up and we're off to the airport. Me and Don arrange it with Aaron and Bob so that if we don't make this flight to call them up and they'll come by and scoop us up to chill at the North Shore!
Along the way, we pick up another filmmaker who's also leaving the festival today. His name is Jeff (I think). He was in the festival for the short flick "Yellow Sticky Notes", but he's leaving back to Seattle today. We talk a little about Guam, the Asian perspective of new filmmakers, Shiro's Head and the whole HIFF festival experience.
12:00pm hour
Dang. We're already here. As much as we'd like to stay, Don and I know that we have to try and get back home on today's flight since the flight loads look better then it does for the next few days. Otherwise we might get stuck in Hawaii. We give our sad and sincere adios to the cool Marshallese Aaron and Bob. Bummer. We make sure that we all stay in touch and that we'll make it a point to visit sometime. The shuttle pulls away and Don and I make our way to the ticket counter. I can already see myself on the North Shore lit by a bonfire fading away into the darkness. Dang.
Don and I go the ticket kiosk with the mentality of a gambler sitting in front of a slot machine - against the odds. Then...WHOAH! We have the extreme fortune of already being assigned and confirmed for our seating on the flight back home! Yay! It's a perfect trip! For a while, it was getting scary there. Don thinks that someone working for the airline must've saw our names on the itinerary and pulled some strings. Hmmmm. Well, we call the ladies and let them know we'll be arriving Friday at 5:30pm. They're excited that we were able to get a flight back with no hassles. That's actually the perfect summary to a perfect first film festival experience.
1:00pm hour
While making our way towards the gates, we stop for some Starbucks and chill. We reflect on everything - the HIFF acceptance letter, the extended hotel accommodations, the new friends and contacts we made, the impressions of us and Guam that we left behind and most of all, the extreme creme de la creme of hospitality that was given by the entire HIFF staff; from the top down! From Executive Director Chuck Boller to the volunteer ticket takers at the theaters, EVERYONE made us feel beyond welcome - they made us feel like you'd only dream you'd feel as a filmmaker at your first festival. It was an extremely wonderful and touching experience that has won a place in my memories forever.
We just got home from the airport and off of what seemed to be an unbelievable journey with Shiro's Head. Don and I find out that the University of Guam would like Shiro's Head to play for the University crowd to help raise funds for the UOG student film, "Casting Our Net".
I go up to the roof, look out at the ocean and the setting sun and reflect on it all. This little movie that could has been as great to us as we've been to it. Here's to Shiro's Head, to the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival, to Guam, to Majuro and Hawaii! Let's do it all again sometime soon, shall we? Cheers!
Louis Vuitton Hawaii Intl. Film Festival (LVHIFF) Diary
Day Four
Wednesday, October 15th
10:00am hour
Waking up. Whoah, what a crazy night last night. I'm pretty sure today will be just a baby version of yesterday, being that today's showing of Shiro's Head is a matinee and a smaller crowd forecast.
11:00am hour
Don and I are watching local cable TV. I'm surprised to see how many commercial spots aren't as sophisticated as I thought they'd be. Some of them actually look like Guam's commercials. Same style with the "just good enough" graphics, angles and production value. Hmmmmm.
12:00pm hour
We call up Aaron and Bob and agree on a departure time for the shuttle to catch Shiro's Head's last showing. While Don gets ready in the bathroom, I watch the DVD screener of "Morning Comes So Soon". I go straight to the special features and then "the making of". It's funny to see another DIY indie production. There are so many aspects to the production of their movie that Don and I can relate to. Duct tape fixes, audio obstacles, goof-offs.
1:00pm hour
We meet the guys down in the lobby and head out. Aaron tries to get us to stay an extra day so we can make it to a bonfire on the North Shore with the HIFF crew. WHAT?! BONFIRE ON THE NORTH SHORE?!? DAMN! Okay, now I'm really thinking about staying another day. I know for sure that I won't have many opportunities to kick it on the North Shore during a bonfire with cool peeps anytime soon. I'm totally bummed.
The shuttle drops us off at the Dole Cannery Theaters and we make our way to the delegate box office to pick up our free tickets to other festival flicks that we want to see. Aaron tells us about "Dirty Hands - The Art and Crimes of David Choe". It's a documentary about graffiti artist David Choe. Never heard of him. We get our tickets anyway and prepare for Shiro's Head at 3pm.
2:30pm
While Don and I are outside of the theater, we notice that more and more people are showing up than expected. Minette calls me over and introduces me to Professor and Chairman Tom Brislin of the University of Hawaii. He tells me that Guam's been his home for about ten years and that he can't wait to see how independent Chamorro artists portray the island instead of calling in outsiders to screw it up (as he refers to Max Havoc). Wow. Word travels fast. He excuses himself as he goes to get his concessions.
3:00pm
Minette rounds us up and we head into the theater. Whoah! No wonder the occupancy list seemed low. This theater seats 400! Amazingly, when we looked at the crowd, the seats were about half filled, so I gauge it to be a good 200+ people for this showing. That's much, much better than I was anticipating. Aaron and Bob take their seats while Don and I wait for Minette's intro.
Minette, Don and I head outside (because we always opt to no watch the movie while its playing). We have some time to kill, so Minette offers to take us on a tour of the HIFF offices and operations. Totally cool. So we head across the street to see the inner-workings of the Hawaii International Film Festival.
3:30-ish pm
The staff was just so kind and very cool. Some of them knew that we were the "Guam boys" and that just always makes me happy. We got to see the film receiving area (where films and submissions come in to get inspected to make sure there are no flaws/complications, etc.), we meet the hospitality and travel coordinators who helped me and Don with an extra night of accomodations at the Sheraton, we meet (for the 2nd time) Christopher Hall who is in charge of the web and media for the HIFF.org site. He's very cool, too. Man, everyone on staff is not only hard-working, but they keep a great vibe in the workplace, too. How do they do that on such a big scale?! We meet the projectionist that we kept bugging about reviewing the BetaSP tape and juicing up the audio during the showings. We saw it all, all the way down to the end of the trafficking department. These guys are responsible for shipping all of the exhibition prints of film/tapes, etc. back to the filmmaker or to its next destination. It's a well-oiled machine, I tell you!
Before we head out, Minette doesn't let us leave empty-handed. She hooks us up with HIFF bags, shortbread cookies and posters for our ladies who couldn't come with us to the festival. She's way too cool, man. She has to tend to some other business now, so Don and I wander around the theaters and kill time as we wait for the Q&A.
4:25pm
Our movie ends, the audience applauds and Minette introduces us again. We make our way up to the mic. One of the first comments from the crowd came from award-winning filmmaker Anne Keala Kelly. She gets up and tells us that she's floored by the way we formulated such a creative story with a "no-strings" budget and that Don is a great actor. Don blushes and we continue on to say that this was Don's first time EVER acting. The same went for the whole cast. We also told everyone that the movie only cost $6,000 to produce and there was a gasp, murmur across the theater.
The next question of course was how just us two guys were able to achieve such high-production value on only $6,000. We explained that the cast was made up of just friends/people that were interested in the project. We explained that the musicians of Guam were generous enough to donate their art to the movie. Some of the people in the crowd couldn't believe that all of the music talent was homegrown from Guam! It was great. We added that we just pulled all of our available resources. Someone in the crowd mentioned that it was reminisint of early Robert Rodriguez and Quentin. We couldn't have been happier.
Professor Brislin, who we met earlier, probably had the best comments of all. He congratulated us on portraying Guam in a way that didn't cater to "the visitor's bureau" as he put it. He took the time to really explain his thoughts on the movie saying that not only did it reminded him of Guam was when he lived there, but that we tied so many Chamorro aspects of the movie together such as the predominant faith of catholicism, the intertwining wink and nod to Guam's history of the Japanese occupation, and the military occupation of the island. He continued to say that he really felt and appreciated the desaturated aesthetics of the movie and the realism that it served. Wow. All this coming from a professor, huh? I'll take it.
After the Q&A, we were able to talk one-on-one with Professor Breslin and Jacob Holcomb as well as the others that came out. I was surprised to see Henry sitting next to Jacob (the Blood Colony director). I didn't know he was there. He had some cool questions and comments about our approach to making a feature film on no budget. I later learned that Henry was actually the DP on Blood Colony. Minette also tells me that Eric Nakamura, publisher and editor of Giant Robot inquired about doing a write-up of Shiro's Head on the site. The experience here at HIFF never ceases to disappoint me.
Outside, I get a chance to speak with Gerard Elmore, the director of the HIFF Festival Trailer. He shot the trailer on the RED camera. I tell him that Don and I are leaving tomorrow and won't be able to make the RED seminar on Saturday. He was gracious enough to indulge us in a little impromptu RED camera session on the spot. He gave us some good tips and was very kind.
6:00pm hour
Just in time for the free happy hour at the HIFF Hospitality Suite with the Marshallese! This a great way to close out the two successful showings of Shiro's Head. Now we're worry-free at this point, so everything form here on out is gravy, baby! We can just relax. Aaron is still trying to convince us to stay for the bonfire at the North Shore. Over the last few days, we've all become pretty close and it bums us all to know that Don and I might make a flight back home first thing tomorrow. He says if we can crash with them if we don't have any funds to extend our stay. Cool peeps. Man, I keep thinking about the missing out on the bonfire and leaving early. Sucks.
6:55pm
After juicing the free happy hour for as long as we could, we casually make our way to the "Dirty Hands" showing. Little did we know that it was packed and we were late. It had already started. We saw Andersen there and he told us to hurry up and get in the theater, 'cause we're missing out. We find our seats and watch the movie.
8:30pm
Whoah. David Choe is friggin' nuts! If you want to watch a new documentary that'll trip you out, check out "Dirty Hands". I'm glad I got to experience it in a theater. It definitely was a crowd pleaser. We stayed for the Q&A and David Choe made an appearance. Aaron and I got our shirts signed from him as we made a last-minute dash for the shuttle to take us back to the Sheraton.
We get dropped off and walk over to the ABC store. Aaron and Bob want to throw a farewell "1-2-1" drink-out for us since it's our last night hanging out. They go on to explain that 1-2-1 is a favorite party drink in Majuro. It's 1 bottle of vodka, 2 cans of root beer and 1 half-gallon of milk. Ahhh yeaaah! I thought it'd be too strong for my taste, but it was sweet to the taste buds, baby! We had to mix it in a lined trash can 'cause we didn't have an ice bucket big enough. DIY style! Don and I want to adopt the recipe and bring it back home for the Sinajana crew!
We stay up for the rest of the night drinking this 1-2-1 stuff and having a great time.We talk more about our movies, our responsibilities as being filmmakers at home and just reflect on the good times that we had here at HIFF. The night involved more freestyle rapping, storytelling and checking out the Waikiki strip. The guys are still trying to convince us to stay an extra day. Under the influence of the goodness of 1-2-1, Don and I consider it. It was just an awesome time, man. And guess what? We even had the honor of an encore appearance from "monkey man". Okay - now the night's complete.
Hafa Adai and Seasons Greetings,
I know all our state-side bound Chamorros are going to hate this post but we're pre-selling the Shiro's Head DVDs at a discounted price of $12.99 at the Best Seller book store in the Micronesia Mall tomorrow Tuesday, the 9th from 4 to 6pm. However, the DVDs aren't actually here yet, so you'll only be reserving your DVDs and receiving a receipt for the discounted pre-sale price to redeem them when they touch down on Guam soil December 17th - 20th. The regular price for the DVDs are set at $14.99 so please check us out if you're interested in saving a couple of bucks.
Let's re-cap:
WHEN: Tomorrow Tuesday, December 9th
WHERE: Best Seller in Micronesia Mall
WHY: To reserve your Shiro's Head DVDs and save $2 bucks per disc.
Happy holidays and thank you all so much for your interest in Shiro's Head and thank you again for your support. Si Yu'us Ma'ase.
--Don & Kel
Louis Vuitton Hawaii Intl. Film Festival (LVHIFF) Diary
Day Three (part 2)
Tuesday, October 14th
We get to the delegate box office and I finally meet up face to face with hospitality coordinator Jeff after corresponding with him for weeks. He give us our tickets to Half-Life and Gone Shopping as well as complimentary tickets for Shiro's Head in case we'd like to invite people. I ask him if he can give us a seat count for Shiro's Head tonight just to get a gauge on the crowd that we can expect. He says that out of approx. 280 seats, there are ten left. WHOAH! THAT'S GREAT NEWS! Sold out! I can't believe it! But before I got too happy, he tells me that tomorrow's 3pm showing looks a bit small with about a quarter of the theater sold so far. Oh. He tries to reassure me that most of the crowd almost always gets their tickets at the last minute. Okay, we'll see. I think we just need to get through tonight.
3:00pm hour
We get to the HIFF delegate entrance at the Dole Cannery Theaters and hand the HIFF volunteers our tickets. Without ever meeting any of them, they already knew all of us by name and offered to reserve seats for us in the theater. Whoa! This is high-class treatment. I'm totally not used to this. We thank them and head into the "Half-Life" theater. We're a bit late. It blew me away to finally see an actual Sundance/SXSW flick - I was getting anxious. But, after a few minutes, I was totally feeling the emo vibe of the flick. The acting wasn't as great as I was expecting (Aaron thought so too), the script was really wordy and there were tons of gay references. It really wasn't our scene. Aaron and Bob bail early to catch the Shanghai Shorts. Don and I stay and give Half-Life another chance. After a few more minutes we decide to bail out of the flick early and head across the hall to catch Li Lin and the gang at the 4pm showing of Gone Shopping.
We catch Li Lin coming out of the Half-Life theater also heading for the same place. She thanks us for coming out. She's anxious, you can tell. We all head into the theater to get ready for her film as people start trickling in. Don and I notice that we have seats reserved with our names on them - middle section, center - best seats in the house. Those HIFF volunteers are sharp. I love 'em.
4:15pm
We take our seats and Minette comes out to introduce Li Lin to the crowd. Li Lin addresses the crowd, thanking them for showing up and that it's her first attempt at a feature film and to please forgive her if there are any noticeable 'bumps' along the way. The lights dim, Gone shopping begins.
5:45pm
Whoah. There is no way that Gone Shopping is her first feature. Everything is so high-end and big budget! Great camera movements, a fantastic DP, the casting was on point and the subtitles were done perfectly so nothing was lost in translation. Now Don and I are really sweating bullets for Shiro's Head's debut tonight. Dang, do we feel ghetto. Don and I congratulate Li Lin at the Q&A and talk about her experiences with her movie, like when it played in Rome and recieved a standing ovation. I can't believe that this fantastic writer/director is the same person we were kicking it with just yesterday at a bbq!We pick her brain like crazy and she's too humble about it.
6:00pm
FREE HAPPY HOUR at the HIFF Hospitality Suite! Shiro's Head is on in three hours! We catch up with Bob and Aaron and prepare to take the edge off of our debut tonight by sipping on some free local Hawaii brew. Our favorite: Longboard. Don's still worried about the BetaSP and checks with Minette to confirm with the projectionist to view the tape. Minette makes the call and assures us that everything should be fine. I figure that at this point it's too late. We just have to sit back and enjoy it all.
After plenty of Longboards, talking about Gone Shopping and the Shanghai Shorts, we decide that we need some chow. Aaronn suggests that we walk over to a nearby Kmart and grab a large Little Ceaser's Pizza, so we do. The pizza feeds all of us for only seven bucks! Now that's DIY on a budget! We poor filmmakers can be so resourceful. Free beer and seven dollar pizzas - can't beat it.
8:00pm hour
We walk back to the Dole Cannery Theaters to prepare for the show in less than an hour. The HIFF free happy hour is over, but we head back to the hospitality suite and try our luck at another free round anyway. Aaron works his magic and...success! I see a piano on the side and start playing "Candle In the Wind" by Elton John. The buzzed islanders sing loudly. We wonder if anyone will really show up to watch the flick. It's a nerve-racking feeling.
HIFF Programmer Andersen Le comes up and seems pretty excited. He tells us that there's a long line of people forming for Shiro's Head. I'm pretty sure that it was for another movie like "Chihuahua", but I was wrong. We go downstairs and see a long line for Shiro's Head. Unbelievable! Don and I are so extremely grateful to see all these people, so we begin to greet them, thank them and shake their hands as they give their movie tickets to the ticket-takers. We even see familiar faces from Guam that we've seen just days prior on Guam. How weird is that? There was a great Chamorro turnout inside the theater and a local Hawaiian turnout as well which was surprising.
Some of my old middle school and high school friends who now live in Hawaii came by to see the flick. And I thought they still lived in Guam! Among the familiar faces were middle school/high school classmate Joe Sanchez, RepUrs clothing designer Sean Quinata, MMA fighter Mike Ulloa, TJ Quan and more. It was great. There were also others that I didn't know were there until later, like Stacie Krajchir's family, some of the award winning filmmakers from today's ceremony and other Guam connections.
9:00pm
The pressure started to build up as the crowd filled the seats. Minette opens up the show by introducing me and Don. Butterflies galore. Everyone gives us a warm welcome. I start by asking if there are any Chamorros in the house. The response was greater than I thought. The energy is unexplainable. It's a crazy high, man it really, really is. We continue to talk about Shiro's Head and to thank everyone for coming out. We also make it a point to recognize Guam talents for contributing to Shiro's Head. We keep our opening pretty short, thank them for coming out and cross our fingers.
The lights go down. Don and I are dying to know if the BetaSP works without a hitch. The HIFF trailer plays as it does before all of the festival movies begin. The trailer ends. And then - Shiro's Head begins. The opening image comes off flawlessy! Minette asks us if we'd like to adjust anything and we ask if she can juice up the audio. Minette quickly radios in to the projectionist to crank it up. He does. All is well! Whew! In fact, Don notices that the image is the clearest that we've ever seen projected of Shiro's Head. The HIFF movies are projected on Sony Digital projectors at the theaters, so it made a noticeable difference to what we've seen during our Premiere showings on Guam. We are thanking God again at this point. Don and I leave the theater to get some air and collect our thoughts. We're outside breathing sighs of relief with Minette and we're all happy that everything's gone according to plan. A very big thanks to her, of course!
10:15pm
The movie is just about over, so Don and I sneak back in to catch the ending so we can prepare for the Q&A session afterwards. The movie finally ends and the crowd responds with great applause and the occasional yell and whistle. Whew! That's always good sign. As people leave the theater, they thank me and Don for putting it all together. Thank us? We should be thanking them! But I think that they too were sitting on pins and needles hoping that Guam's first feature length movie wasn't a bust. I think they were just as relieved as we were.
10:30pm
Minette introduces us again for the Q&A session. In addition we point out some of the other filmmakers in the festival that are in the seats; filmmakers such as Vilsoni and Jeanette Hereniko from "The Land Has Eyes", The first Marshallese filmmakers Aaron Condon and Bob Balos from "Morning Comes So Soon" and Li Lin Wee from "Gone Shopping" . It was a great feeling to share our film with other filmmakers. Li Lin stands up in front of everyone and comments on how amazed she is that we were able to create such a powerful and creative story just based on our resources. She kept giving us kudos and we were extremely humbled by all of her positive comments. That meant a lot to me. Others in the crowd were surprised to hear that all the talent featured in the movie was homegrown from Guam and that none were real actors. The Q&A session rocked overall!
10:45pm
We've been talking with people for a while now, that we're told that we have to clear the theater for the cleaning crew. Ha! The same thing happened to us at all of our other showing back home. Outside the theater, we hang out and take pictures with people and friends from the audience. We get a chance to meet tons of new and interesting people as well a few industry trade writers. A writer from Variety requests for a screener because he accidentally made in late - about 10 minutes into Shiro's Head. Apparently there were other film festival programmers in the house as well and were scouting for movies that they'd like to include in their festivals. Minette keeps us posted about these things. It was great to talk with everyone outside on a one-on-one basis and just to connect with everybody. It was a very, very, very fantastic feeling to share our movie with them.
Minette tells us all that the HIFF crew is going to Kompai (a restaurant and bar) and that we should come along for drinks. Sean Quinata from RepUrs clothing and friends let us ride in the back of his truck - Guam style. Minette and I talk about Comicon on the way over to Kompai.
We all get to Kompai and meet up with everyone. Jason Sanders shows up with his wife, the Variety writer was there as well, Andersen, etc. Don and I meet a Sam Jackson look-a-like in the streets. This was actullay his schtick! He would approach people reciting lines from Sam Jackson movies in exchange for some spare change. Don was kind enough to help him out. We talked with him for a few minutes and shared a few laughs.
The night went on for a good while - full of drink, conversation about Hawaii and Guam and just relieving stress coming off a successful first night of Shiro's Head at HIFF. As the night comes to an end, we say our goodbyes and head back into town in the back of Sean's truck.
We get dropped off at the hotel and head up to Bob and Aaron's room and have some drinks, talk about the movie, talk about our next projects, and then we see 'monkey man'.
There is this couple who is having sex on their penthouse-level balcony about three hotels down from us. From what we see, they're really going at it - kind of like monkeys in a cage. So we name the dude 'monkey man'. We cheer him on. At this point, we're drunk, laughing, happy, rapping and celebrating the two films from the Marshall Islands and Guam. Don, myself, Aaron and Bob are bummed that tomorrow's our last full day here. They're here until the end of the fest which I believe is Sunday. We're definitely going to miss it all. And our new Marshallese friends agree.
2:00am
Yes, there's too much of a good thing. On my way back to my room I stop by the internet station in the lobby and check the standby flights for Thursday. It looks like we might be able to get a flight out. For the first time travelling standby, I almost wish it wasn't the case. Anyway, I'm friggin' pooped. Tomorrow we show Shiro to a whole new crowd at 3pm. Even if the crowd is pretty small tomorrow, today's experience was more than enough to keep me happy until we make our next movie. I'm not doing justice to its level of euphoria. It's just way more than I ever thought Shiro's Head would become.
Louis Vuitton Hawaii Intl. Film Festival (LVHIFF) Diary
Day Three (part 1)
Tuesday, October 14th
Today's the big day. Shiro's Head debuts at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival tonight. This is big, man. Right now, we're up and ready for the awards ceremony at the Sheraton in a few hours. I give the Marshallese a wake up call and tell them that we'd like to treat them to breakfast. We get our quick-dries, t-shirts and badges. We're set.
10:00am hour
We're in the lobby waiting for Bob and Aaron and they're pimped out in slacks, aloha print shirts and fixed hair. Uh-oh. Is there a dress code? Aaron says that the invite said "aloha attire/business casual". Oops. We're totally underdressed. I hope we get in. They offer to lend us some of their clothes, but it's too late. Dang.
On our way to Denny's we stop at an ABC store so Aaron can pick up what they refer to as "ziggy-ziggies" (cigarettes).
11:00am hour
We make our way into the ballroom without any hassle about our attire. Hey - it's island style, what the heck? The ballroom is pimped out with press walls, stage, a huge projector screen, mood lighting, tables and tables of HIFF filmmakers, organizers and guests. This is super cool. We all sit together and are later joined by Jennifer Phang, who tells me that she's the director of "Half-Life" and one of her actors, Sanoe Lake. Half-Life is another movie that caught my eye even before I knew we were picked for the festival. It's a totally weird experience to meet the director of a movie that I've wanted to see before I even see it. We talk about her experience at Sundance and South by Southwest with Half-Life. She seems very introverted, but nice.
The wait staff are always constantly filling our glasses with tea, water, etc. They're sharp. The food line is open and we all make our way to the fully prepared shrimp, rice, veggies and more! Dang, this is high-class. We're later joined by the local Hawaii writer that sat with us yesterday after the NETPAC luncheon. Dang - I keep forgetting his name.
Jeannett Paulson of NETPAC comes by our table to chat a bit and to say hello. She says that she's going to see Shiro's Head tonight with Vilsoni. Moments later, her husband Vilsoni comes by and talks to us all about our movies. He's looking forward to seeing Shiro's Head tonight. Don's still worried about our BestSP transfer.
12:00pm hour
The lights dim and the ceremony is under way. Exec. Festival Director Chuck Boller opens it up with a few words of thanks and of the exciting lineup of movies at this year's fest. He then goes on to address everyone by saying that it's a special time for the festival because not only are they showcasing movies from around the world, but they are also featuring the first feature length movie from the Marshall Islands as well as the first feature length movie from Guam. The crowd applauds and all heads turn towards our table. That was a great moment of recognition. We all felt very proud.
The awards portions begin and it looks like a mini-Oscars. The nominees in the categories are mentioned, clips are played and they mention the winning films.
1:00pm hour
We all mingle with the filmmakers and take a few pics. We talk with the winners of the Film in Hawai'i Award, Joan Landers and Puhipau, and discover that they have done some work with Angel Santos. Small world. Best Documentary Winner Anne Keala Kelly tells us that she's excited to see Shiro's Head and will try to make tonight's show. If not, she said she'll make tomorrow's. We congratulate Dana and she's too humble about the award. We also see Henry there and we take a few pictures and he's looking forward to watching Shiro's Head too. So far, the vibe about Shiro's Head seems strong among the filmmakers as well. I mean, these are million dollar budget filmmakers! It's nuts. I just hope the BetaSP works without any glitches. We congratulate the filmmakers of Cape No7.
The crowd's thinning out and we're getting ready to leave to the Dole Cannery Theaters to get our free tickets to Gone Shopping and Half-Life and to prep for Shiro's Head debut. Jennifer Phang from Half-Life walks with us down to the shuttle and we talk about how expensive film festivals are for independent filmmakers. She tells me that since Sundance has showcased her movie, it's influenced her movie at other festivals. Some fests even invite her to show the film, waive the entry fee and pay her travel and accomodation costs. Dude! That's freakin' nuts! She goes on to say that she usually doesn't go out of her way to attend a festival unless expenses are paid since it gets too expensive just to even travel. Tell me about it. BUT - she continues to tell me that although the top tier fests like Sundance and South by Southwest are attention-getters, they are also not as personable. It's usually just a big media-circus. That's probably one of my favorite things about HIFF is that they go above and beyond to make sure that your time spent with them is not only productive, but personable. Hmmmmm. I think they've ruined it for me and my expectations of future festivals. They set the bar way too high.
