HIFF Film Festival Diary Day 3 (pt.1)

Louis Vuitton Hawaii Intl. Film Festival (LVHIFF) Diary

Day Three (part 1)

Tuesday, October 14th

9:00am hour
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.

Aaron, Bob, Don and I check out the ceremony programs in front of us and are excited to see that "Gone Shopping" is up for best feature along with Cape No.7. We see Li Lin, Daiwi and the gang up front, so we go up to wish them good luck. Li Lin is very excited. They all remind us that they're going to watch Shiro's Head tonight. We tell her that after the ceremony, we're going over to watch Gone Shopping. She's so cool, man

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.

They ready to give out the Viewer's Choice Award from Time Warner Cable. I was surprised to see that it was Dana for her film "The Hollow". It's so weird, because just a day ago, she picked us up from the airport with Henry! How cool is that? The Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Documentary went to Anne Keala Kelly for "Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation of Hawai'i". She was so shocked that she won, she began to cry. The Film in Hawai'i Award went to the filmmaking team of Joan Lander and Puhipau. Then, finally the winner of the Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Narrative goes to Cape No.7.

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.

2:00pm hour
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.