I HEART HIFF Member Mixer and Open House

The Honolulu International Film Festival kicks off their Fall 2010 season with a special Members Mixer and Open House.  This event is open to the public and will give people who haven’t experienced HIFF an opportunity to see what it’s all about.  The key Visual Element of this year’s Fall Festival will be revealed, along with never before seen movies and 10 trailers of films that will be featured during the Festival.

Along with that, the public has the opportunity to meet and mingle with the HIFF staff, but to also participate in the numerous drawings being held, including tons of concert tickets, courtesy of BAMP.  Tickets include a pair of passes to the upcoming Blackstar show, Owl City, The Maine and Forever the Sickest Kids, Chevelle, and Ghostland Observatory.

Also being raffled off is the grand prize of a trip to the Seattle International Film Festival in June 2011. That includes airfare, hotel, and platinum passes to the Seattle festival.

Discounts for HIFF memberships will also be available for those who sign up for a membership during the evening.

This all goes down tonight at Next Door from 5pm-8pm. It’s free and open to the public. For more info, check out http://www.HIFF.org

HIFF 2009

The Hawaii International Film Festival’s Fall program begins this Thursday night with the screening of the opening night film “Mother.”

The festival continues all the way until the 25th of the month, where multiple films of importance will make their Hawaii and World debuts.

Some films of interest include the Princess Ka’iulani film “Barbarian Princess,” The LeBron James documentary “More Than A Game,” The Donnie Yen/Sammo Hung epic “IP MAN,” the industrial design documentary “Objectified,” and the one film I’m looking forward to seeing: “The Branch Will Not Break” featuring Mike Pooley.

The Fall Program of HIFF starts this Thursday night and will keep going until the 25th. For more info on HIFF and to buy tickets, check out the HIFF site at http://www.HIFF.org

HIFF Spring Showcase starts tomorrow

The Hawaii International Film Festival’s Spring Showcase starts up tomorrow with a lineup of films that run the gamut of the awesomely serious to the awesomely absurd.

Like the film trailer listed above, “Yamagata Scream.”  So, the premise behind this movie is that a lovelorn school teacher is taking her class full of girls up to a shrine known to bring about true love.  I guess they never heard about Good Luck Chuck.

ANYWAY, as they search for this shrine, they get caught up in a battle between the villagers and a zombie samurai.

You had me at zombie samurai.

Well, this is just one of the many films that are available to you at this year’s Spring Showcase.

The Spring Showcase runs from April 3-9.  For more information on the films and when they’re being shown, check out the HIFF Interactive Schedule and a synopsis of each movie.

“Yamagata Scream” will be showing this Sunday at 9:15pm. And yes, I will be there.

HIFF Spring Showcase Tickets ON SALE NOW

It’s that time of the year again.

HIFF (Hawaii International Film Festival) will be having it’s 12th Annual Spring Showcase next month…

BUT! The lineup for the Festival has just been announced and tickets officially go on sale on March 23rd.

The lineup will feature over 20 acclaimed and award-winning films from around the world.  You know the Japanese and South Korean films will get some love, but don’t forget the strong batch of film from India, now that Slumdog Millionaire got mad love from the Academy this past month.

Some films of note:

The Sky Crawlers: Mamoru Oshii’s (Ghost In The Shell) latest masterpiece about futuristic air battles.

Ichi: The female version of Blind Swordsman Zatoichi, starring Haruka Ayase, returning to HIFF after her amazing turn in last year’s favorite CYBORG SHE.

Ghajini: The Hindi version of Christopher Nolan’s MEMENTO. Just watch the trailer, it looks EPIC.

Wushu: Produced by Jackie Chan.  Starring Sammo Hung. Featuring a cast full of Wushu graduates and Martial Arts masters.  Need I say more?

Tickets will be available starting March 23rd at the HIFF Box Office at Dole Cannery.

You can check out the synopses of the films HERE.

You can also follow all the HIFF goings on at their YouTube Channel or at their website at HIFF.org

HIFF 2008 Music Video Showcase

The 2008 Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival will be showcasing a set of local and national music videos at the Loft this Tuesday night.  The videos featured showcase the amazing talents of flmmakers in Hawaii.  Included in the playlist are videos from Pimpbot, Linus, NoMasterBacks, Detego, Bless D’Chil, and tons more.

Following the music video showcase, there’s going to be live music from Make The Change and Pimpbot, as well as dope tunes from DJs Ross Jackson and Casey.

The event is FREE before 10PM ($5 after 10PM) and  21+, so keep the kids at home for this one.  The Loft is located at 115 N. Hotel Street, on the corner of Maunakea and Hotel.

For more info, check out the HIFF catalog page.

“Dirty Hands” at HIFF

Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe is one of the headlining films at this year’s Louis Vuitton Hawaii International FIlm Festival.  The film, which covers David’s life, times, influences, style, imprisonment, and eventual resurgence is an amazing film that all art-types should catch.

The film is showing tonight at 9PM and Wednesday night at 7PM.  Both shows will be at the Regal Dole Cannery 18.  Be sure to catch one of those showings. 

On Tuesday, be sure to catch a special meet and greet with David and the RVCA crew at Blue Hawaii Surf’s Kalihi showroom.  The event is from 6PM-9PM.  It’s free and open to the public, so swing by and say “Aloha” to David.

For more, check out the Blue Hawaii Surf website.

Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival

The 28th Annual Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival starts tonight at at 8pm with the Opening Night film “The Divine Weapon,” a historical piece on the Joseon Dynasty of Korea.

The film festival then runs non-stop until the 18th with another Korean film, “The Good, The Bad, and The Weird.”

For the atypicalLIVING crew, we got three films that we have in mind to check out during the festival.  First up is “Follow Your Heart,” a look at the changing face of Chinese youth and their mashing-up of old world Chinese traditions with the new school hip-hop mentality.  

Next is “Beautiful Losers,” a documentary on the new movement of DIY artists becoming the mainstream.

And, of course, we HAVE to be there for the David Choe documentary, “Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe.” We hear that SOMEONE might be in town, but you didn’t hear it from us.

And, we’ll be there at the Loft next Tuesday for the Music Video showcase.  We’ll have more info on that next week.

But, HIFF is just one of those events that is always a good time.  Whatever your taste in movies, there’s something that will whet your appetite.  There’s a couple of anime films out there, The Bob Marley film about “Exodus,” and, much like the Spring Festival, there’s an “Extreme Asia” collection of films that will appeal to your Tarantino side.  “Cyborg She” looks like a winner as well.

For more info and to buy tickets, check out the HIFF Film Schedule.

For more on the festival, check out the HIFF website.

HIFF Tickets on SALE NOW!

For those that didn’t know, HIFF tickets go on sale today to the general public.  Both online sales and box office sales for the dope indie flicks start at 11am, so you still got some time to look through the Spring Showcase catalog and pour over which films to watch.  And also which days to call in sick to work.

I know which one I’m going to watch, and it’s not even one listed on the printed catalog.

MACHINE GIRL!

If you guys don’t know about this… the basic premise is that a normal girl witnesses her brother get murdered by the heir to the Yakuza family… and she goes out to exact revenge.  There’s guns… violence… a drill bra… blood splatter…

… did I mention a drill bra?

Anyway, check out the trailer:

This is showing Sunday night, April 20, at 9pm.  You darn right I’m gonna be there.

Anyway, to get tickets to the extravaganza, click this link for specific instructions.

For more info: http://www.hiff.org