Mahalo

I'm going through my tapes and notes from the Hawaii Film Fest, and it was awesome. Where else can you see filmmakers from Taiwan, Korea, Malaysia, India, the Philippines, and the U.S., as well as Norway or Israel? And then there's the hybrid Asian food (not necessarily "fusion"), beautiful beaches and mountains, and great weather. No one can say no to an invite to Honolulu, and neither could I.



Along with friend of GR Anderson Le, Christian is one of the directors. He helped coordinate interviews for the mag and gave me the scoop on movies and places to check out, as well a tour of the projection area (blurry, above). Ian and Chantal did a lot of the legwork to bring you some pretty rad interviews (like Funky Forest's Ishii and Miki, below).



There were some movies that you'll never see anywhere else mixed in with premieres of big ones, like The Banquet with Zhang Ziyi (below) and our homie Dan Wu. All the screenings I attended were packed.


Perhaps the coolest part of the fest is that although it attracts world-class features and filmmakers, it's totally accessible and not just an industry or insider thing. It's locals who sell out screenings and provide an energy that can't be denied. For visitors like me, it's a great way to balance relaxing things like nature and food with cool culture that's alive, vital, and growing. Hope to see you there next year...