HIFF Talks: The Official Podcast of the Hawai‘i International Film Festival

HIFF Intern Roma Lerner sits down with Native Hawaiian screenwriter Bryson Chun, discussing his breakthrough moments, finding his unique writing voice, what it means to represent his community as a Native Hawaiian storyteller, and his advice for aspiring writers. Chun has written for DOOGIE KAMEALOHA, MD on Disney+ and the upcoming MOANA 2. Bryson is the screenwriter of DASHER, which you can see a...

HIFF Intern Cyris Laury-Schaefer sits down with actor Lindsay Watson, discussing her career beginnings and breakout acting roles, as well as her transition behind the camera as a writer/director. You can see Lindsay at HIFF45 starring in GRACE as well as in WHAT WE CARRY, which she also wrote and directed. https://hiff.org/events/madeinhawaiishorts/ https://hiff.org/events/pacificislandershowcases...

HOCCI's Ashton Obrero sits down with Emmy award-winning filmmaker Justyn Ah Chong to discuss his career and experience at the 44th Annual Hawai'i International Film Festival. Justyn co-produced this yearʻs centerpiece presentation, MOLOKA'I BOUND, which is the first film to win both the Made In Hawai'i: Best Narrative Feature and Kau Ka Hōkū Award. He also wrote and produced th...

HOCCI's Olivia Trice interviews Daerius Legg, the artist behind HIFF43's key art visual and main trailer artist. Daerius' style was inspired by his love of manga and anime (Katsuhito Otomo and Osamu Tezuka) and his philosophy of "being stoked" as a lifelong surfer, born and raised on the Big Island of Hawai‘i.  In addition, he also had a documentary short in this year&apos...

HOCCI's Sean Oketani sits down with Laurel Tamayo to discuss her short film, GEN Z MENTAL HEALTH: CLIMATE STORIES, which was a part of the official selection for HIFF43 in the Environmental Shorts Program. This podcast interview covers the topics highlighted in the documentary, opening up a larger discussion on the climate crisis and its effects on the collective mental health of a generation...

HOCCI's Sean Oketani sits down with filmmaker Hunter Naho‘oikaika to discuss her film, SEEING WTIH HAWAIIAN EYES, an official selection of the 43rd Hawai‘i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani (HIFF43) and screened in the "Kānaka Maoli Legacy: New Hawaiian Docs" program. During this interview, Hunter and Sean talk about her film and its subject matter on preserving an...

In this episode, HIFF HOCCI mentee Jim Fahey sits down with Leo Williams, a NY-based film critic, to discuss about the HIFF42 Closing Night Film BROKER directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda. It's an interesting conversation as this is Jim's first Kore-eda film, while Leo is familiar with the director's previous work.  About HOCCI: The mission of the HIFF ONLINE CREATIVES & CRITICS IMMER...

In this episode, HIFF HOCCI mentee Jim Fahey sits down with Leo Williams, a NY-based film critic, to discuss about the film SHE SAID directed by Maria Schrader. An official selection of HIFF42, the film is currently in commercial release in U.S. theaters.    About HOCCI: The mission of the HIFF ONLINE CREATIVES & CRITICS IMMERSIVE (HOCCI) program is to encourage film criticism in Hawai‘i by us...

In this episode, HIFF HOCCI mentee Olivia Thrice talks about the joys of returning to the cinema to experience films as HIFF fully returns to an in-person event.  She also explores the theme of "forgiveness" in films she watched at HIFF42. She specifically highlights three films-- WOMEN TALKING , OUR FATHER, THE DEVIL and ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED --all female centered films deali...

In this episode, HIFF HOCCI mentee David Murray sits down with his buddy Terry to discuss about the film FINDING SATOSHI directed Laurent Barthelemy and is part of HIFF42's New American Perspectives presented by the Vilcek Foundation.    About HOCCI: The mission of the HIFF ONLINE CREATIVES & CRITICS IMMERSIVE (HOCCI) program is to encourage film criticism in Hawai‘i by using the influenc...

Although Alika Tengan's film made it into Sundance in 2022, he was unable to experience his film in front of an in-person theatrical audience. To rectify this, HIFF made his film the closing feature of the Spring Showcase on April 14, 2022. Anderson Le moderates a Q&A with many members of the cast and crew.  Guest - Alika Maikau Tengan and the EVERTYDAY IN KAIMUKĪ Interviewer - Anderson L...

After a screening of BLURRING THE COLOR LINE on April 12, 2022 at the Consolidated Theaters in Honolulu, Anderson Le chats with Crystal Kwok about the journey she took to make this riveting documentary, focusing on her Chinese grandparents living in the South during the segregation era. The discussion is opened up to the audience for  questions as well. More on BLURRING THE COLOR LINE:  https://hi...

Snow Hnin El Hlaing is  the filmmaker of MIDWIVES, which premiered worldwide at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022. MIDWIVES is a documentary about a midwife and her apprentice, both living in Myanmar during a time of intense conflict and ethnic strife for the nation. This film was supported in part by a grant from the Sundance Institute and won the prestigious Special Jury Prize in Verite Filmmak...

Serial HIFF contributor Alika Maikau Tengan has made the Hawaiian film community proud, premiering his first feature film EVERY DAY IN KAIMUKĪ, at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022. Beforehand, he's built a reputation as a talented filmmaker with films such as MOLOKA'I BOUND and MAUKA TO MAKAI, and - let's just say he's "bound" for even more great work in the future....

With MAIKA, writer-director-editor Ham Tran returns to the Sundance Film Festival in 2022,  16 years since his premiering his first feature JOURNEY FROM THE FALL. In between those films, Ham has been a pillar in the Vietnamese film community, supporting his peers and leading his own projects with a "whatever it takes" mentality to get things done. He shares his story with host/producer L...

In ten minutes, filmmakers Brit Hensel and Keli Gonzales are able to express so much about their culture as members of Cherokee Nation in ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught), which just had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2022. ᎤᏕᏲᏅ is part of The Reciprocity Project, a documentary series in its first season and a co-production of Nia Tero and the Upstander Project. Brit Hensel is the fi...

Receiving a $1.35M grant and supported by the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and the Perspective Fund, Color Congress (colorcongress.org) is poised to make a major impact on the documentary filmmaking community, especially for historically underrepresented filmmakers from the BIPOC community. We chat openly with co-founders Sonya Childress and Sahar Driver about their journey to this momen...

HIFF 41 brought in quite an amazing juror to help evaluate the nominees for the KAU KA HŌKŪ (Shooting Star) award. Susan Soon He Stanton currently writers for the hit HBO show SUCCESSION, but before working as a professional playwright, screenwriter, and television writer in London and New York, she grew up in ‘Aiea, Hawai‘i  and even won the audience award at HIFF for her short film DRESS. She ch...

Sure, we can talk extensively about native Hawaiian filmmaker Ciara Lacy impressive career as a director, producer, and general pillar in the community. Instead, artistic director Anderson Le chose to dive a little deeper into Ciara's personal life and even use this session as an opportunity to pick a bone. Don't worry, there's nothing but love between the two of them from start to...

Dana Ledoux Miller has already been attached to so many recognized works: AMC's KEVIN CAN GO F*CK HIMSELF and LODGE 49, Netflix's NARCOS, HBO's THE NEWSROOM, and so much more in progress. Her roots are very much from the Pacific, however, being of mixed Samoan descent and a graduate of the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa. Anderson Le chats with he...

Sarah Wayne Callies has had an impressive career in television as an actor and director, most notably in shows such as THE WALKING DEAD, COLONY,  COUNCIL OF DADS, and THE GOOD DOCTOR. She's also jumped into the world of podcasting with her hit series AFTERSHOCK, starring herself alongside David Harbour and Tovah Feldshuh. Not as many people know that Sarah has strong roots in Hawaii, providin...

Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence was an obvious choice for a jurist at HIFF 41: her impressive career thus far includes collaborations with Anna Deveare Smith, Diane Paulus, and Kerry Washington as well writing for shows such as TWENTIES and BOOMERANG. Kimiko sits down with Anderson Le to talk about her roots in Honolulu and shares her journey thus far. Guest - Kimiko Matsuda-Lawrence Interviewer - Anderso...

LAST HAWAIIAN SUGAR is a deeply personal project for writer/director Déjà Bernhardt, who depicts the final days of a community's connection to a sugar plantation that kept them together for decades. Déjà chats with Artistic Director Anderson Le about her career thus far as a filmmaker and unpacks the allegories that make this film one of the highlights of HIFF41. CW: discussions of sexual abu...

During the pandemic, Karan Soni and his partner Roshan Sethi decided to break out of their creative slumps and write a film in just eight days that would go on to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2021.  A romantic comedy set in quarantine featuring a couple on an "arranged marriage" date, Karan shares his experiences of making this film: working under the direction of his partner...

Filmed on location in Hawaii, Christopher Makoto Yogi's latest film I WAS A SIMPLE MAN premiered at Sundance virtually and in theaters this year at HIFF. Anderson Le sits down with Chris to explore the film's dream-like visual and sound design, its nostalgic and melancholy themes, and working with some up-and-coming stars in the community. Guest - Christopher Makoto Yogi Interviewer - An...