HIFF Film Festival Diary Final Day

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.

6:00pm Friday, Guam Time
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!