HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL & THE VILCEK FOUNDATION PRESENT FREE FILM SERIES IN SEPTEMBER Films and Trailers from “American Immigrant Filmmakers on Profile” To Screen on NGN Video-On-Demand Channel 680

HONOLULU (August 17, 2009) – The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) is inviting movie enthusiasts to view a FREE September film series On-Demand in conjunction with Nippon Golden Network (NGN). The series will feature “American Immigrant Filmmakers on Profile” on NGN-On-Demand Channel 680 from September 1st - 30th and will be free of charge throughout the entire month thanks to the generosity of The VILCEK Foundation. The program comprises four films by American immigrant filmmakers that screened at HIFF 2007 and 2008, including THE GATEKEEPER OF ENMYOIN: ACCORDING TO A 95-YEAR-OLD FEMALE BUDDHIST PRIEST, LONG STORY SHORT, SOMEPLACE ELSE, and VIETNAM OVERTURES. Viewers will also get the chance to watch the accompanying trailers for these films. Plus, five trailers for films to be screened at this year’s festival that have American immigrant directors or lead actors will also be available for viewing. The VILCEK Foundation has also included a PSA. The Foundation honors the contributions of immigrants to biomedical science and the arts.

Rick Kinsel, Executive Director of The Vilcek Foundation, said, "Immigrants have unique stories to tell, and these films help us expand our understanding of and appreciation for the tenacity of these men and women, who have the courage to start their lives over here in the U.S. - often against tremendous odds. The films also serve to remind us all that we have much to be grateful for, even in the darkest of times."

"Films allow people who would otherwise know nothing about a different country or culture to appreciate the lives of others,” added Chuck Boller, executive director of HIFF. “It allows almost anyone to have a voice and that is very powerful! We want to share these great stories and are grateful to The Vilcek Foundation for making these films available to viewers for free."

To view any of these feature films, tune into NGN-On-Demand on channel 680 anytime in September. Wait for the menu to load then use the left and right arrow buttons to select the “HIFF” category. Next, use the up and down arrow buttons to select a title. To order your film, press the “B” button. You may also view title descriptions of the film with the select button. Anytime during playback, you may use the VCR buttons on the remote control to rewind, pause, and fast forward.

Festival information
Established in 1981, the Hawaii International Film Festival is dedicated to the advancement of understanding and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North America through the medium of film. HIFF is the premier international film event in the Pacific and has won the praise of governments, filmmakers, scholars, educators, programmers and film industry leaders throughout the world. For the discovery and exhibition of Asian and Pacific features, documentaries and short films in the nation, it is a primary source. The festival has premiered such movies as ONCE WERE WARRIORS, THE PIANO, SHINE, SHALL WE DANCE, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Plus, DEPARTURES, a Japanese film, had its U.S. premiere at HIFF in 2008, won the HIFF Audience Award and then went on to win the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

HIFF’s major sponsors include: Regal Entertainment Group, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii, Halekulani, Hawaii Tourism Authority and The Vilcek Foundation.

The 2009 Hawaii International Film Festival will be held October 15-25. More information can be found on www.hiff.org.

NGN AIFP Film Lineup:
THE GATEKEEPER OF ENMYOIN: ACCORDING TO A 95-YEAR-OLD FEMALE BUDDHIST PRIEST (HIFF 2007) When she is seven years old, Teijun Ogawa is given to a Shingon Buddhist temple. Cut off from her family, she becomes a rare niso (female priest) and, eventually, builds her own temple, Enmyoin, in rural Southwestern Japan. Over eighty years later, the proud niso shares her story with U.S.-based Japanese filmmaker, Reiko Tahara. Intrigued by Teijun’s seemingly free spirit, Reiko looks to her for guidance as she reflects upon her own journey for freedom—as an immigrant, a wife, and a mother (she is married to the film’s co-producer and co-director, Max Uesugi). What she did not expect was that the niso steadfastly refused to share her view as a woman—it’s as if the subject is taboo—and she dies before filming is complete. But perhaps she left a clue about how she really felt in her choice of successor. Even more miraculously, Teijun managed to find a young woman to head her temple after her death. Why and how did she find a young female priest in this modern Japan? When Reiko revisits Enmyoin to find Teijun’s unspoken feelings, the film shifts from a simple portrait to a genre-bending detective documentary with rich narrative flavor and spiritual sustenance, offering a fascinating glimpse into female priesthood in male-dominant Japanese Buddhist culture. United States, Japan 2007/English, Japanese with English subtitles/157 Minutes; Filmmaker: Reiko Tahara & Max Uesugi; Bio: After immigrating from Japan, Reiko Tahara and Max Uesugi founded Mrex Productions in 1994 -- a collaborative filmmaking partnership based on a strong belief in the power of media to promote mutual understanding and learning among people. Their short film, REMNANTS (1995), was shown at many festivals including SXSW, the Margaret Mead Film & Video Festival and the NY Asian American International Film Festival. In 2007, HIFF presented their new film, THE GATEKEEPER OF ENMYOIN: ACCORDING TO A 95-YEAR-OLD FEMALE BUDDHIST PRIEST, which they wrote, directed and produced as partners.

LONG STORY SHORT (HIFF 2008) LONG STORY SHORT tells the story of Larry and Trudie Long, a popular husband-and-wife nightclub act of the '40s and '50s. Narrated by their daughter, actress Jodi Long, the film traces the couple's rise from the Chinatown nightclub circuit to a coveted appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show." When Jodi is cast in the Broadway revival of "Flower Drum Song," a show that had cast her father in the original version 40 years earlier, her parents find themselves revisiting a past they had buried long ago. Combining a family story with show business history and the ravages of racism, it is a story of pain, passion, and perseverance. United States 2008/English/53 Minutes; Filmmaker: Christine Choy; Bio: Christine Choy was born in Shanghai, China. She has received over 60 international awards including an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary and a Best Cinematography Award at Sundance. Choy has produced/directed/photographed more than 70 works that have been broadcast on HBO, PBS, Life Time, and others. Her works have also been featured in multiple international film festivals, including Berlin, Cannes, and Toronto, as well as Asian American festivals. She is the founding director of the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong.

SOMEPLACE ELSE (HIFF 2008) For some, it is the pursuit of making a dream come true. For others, it is the one chance at documenting their lives in the city before parting with it. And for the rest, it is about learning something new, or being part of a project that will allow them to use media that stirs their interest. Part musical documentary, part personal meditation, SOMEPLACE ELSE is the engaging portrait of a soul-blues-funk musician from the South Side of Chicago captured through the lens of the director's personal film journal. Weaving the narrative, photographic and lyrical content of the music in an unconventional and rhythmic way, this feature debut transforms the visual experience of a documentary into a fresh, captivating journey of many facets. France, United States 2008/English/70 Minutes; Filmmaker: Kai-Duc Luong; Bio: Born in March 1975 in Phnom-Penh, Cambodia, Kai-Duc Luong, his mother and two brothers arrived in Paris in June 1976 shortly after his father’s death. As a teenager, Luong lived a studious life in France until coming to America in 1997 as an exchange engineering grad student. He has been perfecting his artistic and filmmaking skills for the past 10 years, making festival-winning shorts, gallery-specific video installations, and modern music videos such as THE FROGS (2007) for French electro-pop label Recordmakers.

VIETNAM OVERTURES (HIFF 2008) A chronology of the state of classical music in Vietnam, East meets West when a cultural exchange program introduces a Norwegian music ensemble to Vietnam for the first time, and they play a joint concert in Saigon with the city symphony orchestra. Vietnam 2008/Vietnamese/64 Minutes; Filmmaker: Stephane Gauger; Bio: Born in Saigon and raised in Orange County, California, Stephane Gauger received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theatre and French Literature. His love of cinema moved him onto film sets, where he trained in film lighting under Matthew Libatique, ASC. Gauger subsequently worked in the camera and lighting departments on independent films in the U.S. and Southeast Asia, including Sundance winner THREE SEASONS, while honing his writing and directing craft on short narrative and documentary films. OWL AND THE SPARROW, his first feature, received the NetPac Award at HIFF 2007.

NGN trailer lineup for HIFF 2009 films:
BOMBAY SUMMER

Bombay Summer explores the fleeting friendship between three young people and its eventual disintegration in the face of betrayal and personal loss. At the center of the story is Geeta, a young, middle-class woman, adept at balancing the needs of family and life in modern India. She is in the middle of a secret affair with Jaidev, a struggling writer who comes from a rich, traditional family. Their lives take a dramatic turn when they befriend a young migrant, Madan. Even though they come from different backgrounds, the three bond as friends. Interweaving stories of their personal lives, the film follows their journey of self-discovery and loss. United States 2009/102 min. Director: Joseph Mathew-Varghese Cast: Tannishtha Chatterjee, Jatin Goswami, Samrat Chakrabarti, Gaurv Dwivedi AIFP Guest: Joseph Mathew-Varghese

THE PEOPLE I'VE SLEPT WITH THE PEOPLE I'VE SLEPT WITH portrays a promiscuous woman who finds herself with an unplanned pregnancy and needs to figure out who the baby’s daddy is...NOW. Angela Yang loves sex. She loves it so much she needs to make baseball cards of her lovers to help her remember where she's been. She doesn't think twice about her lifestyle until she finds out that she's pregnant. Her gay best friend, Gabriel Lugo, tells her to "take care of it," but her conservative sister, Juliet, persuades Angela to get married to the baby's father and lead a "normal" life like her. Angela listens to her sister, chooses to keep the baby, and goes on a quest to find the identity of the father by any means necessary. Canada, Hong Kong 2009/100 min. Director: Quentin Lee Cast: Karin Anna Cheung, Wilson Cruz, Archie Kao, Lynn Chen AIFP Guest: Quentin Lee

PRINCE OF BROADWAY PRINCE OF BROADWAY is the story of Lucky and Levon, two men whose lives converge in the underbelly of New York's wholesale fashion district. Lucky, an illegal immigrant from Ghana, makes ends meet by soliciting shoppers on the street with knock-off brand merchandise. Levon, an Armenian-Lebanese immigrant, operates an illegal storefront with a concealed back room where counterfeit goods are showcased to interested shoppers. Lucky's world is suddenly turned upside down when a child is thrust into his life by a woman who insists the toddler is his son. While Lucky copes with his new domestic dilemma, Levon struggles to save a marriage that is falling apart. The seedy side of the wholesale district is revealed through a journey that continually confronts the interplay between what is fake and what is real. United States 2008/102 min. Director: Sean Baker Cast: Prince Adu, Karren Karagulian, Aiden Noesi, Keyali Mayaga AIFP Guest: Karren Karagulian (lead actor)

A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES is a full-length documentary about Versailles, a community in eastern New Orleans first settled by Vietnamese refugees. After Hurricane Katrina, Versailles residents impressively rise to the challenges by returning and rebuilding before most neighborhoods in New Orleans, only to have their homes threatened by a new government-imposed toxic landfill just two miles away. A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES recounts the empowering story of how this group of people, who had already suffered so much in their lifetime, turns a devastating disaster into a catalyst for change and a chance for a better future. United States 2009/68 min Director: S. Leo Chiang Cast: Father Vien Nguyen, Mimi Nguyen, Minh Nguyen, Ngo Minh Khang, Joel Waltzer, Cynthia Willard-Lewis AIFP Guest: S. Leo Chiang

WHITE ON RICE Jimmy is 40, divorced, and shares a bunk bed with his 10-year-old nephew. For most men, this state of affairs would be ego-crushing, but Jimmy is strangely unperturbed. Despite an utter lack of social finesse, he embarks on an enthusiastic mission to replace his ex-wife with someone better. Assisted by his suave friend Tim, he wrangles dates with all the women in his office (without success) and completely flubs a set-up arranged by his sister Aiko. But worst of all, his carefree attitude provokes the ire of Aiko's straight-laced husband, Tak, who is quickly losing patience with Jimmy's freeloading. Jimmy hardly seems to notice, and when Tak's beautiful niece Ramona comes to visit, he begins to court her shamelessly. In addition to reading her diary, he pays his nephew to draw her portrait (passing it off as his own), and tries to give her a ride by breaking into Tak's car. Finally, when Jimmy shirks his responsibility to the family in order to follow Ramona to a party, the resulting mayhem causes everyone to take another look at how they relate to one another. United States 2009/86 min. Director: Dave Boyle Cast: Hiroshi Watanabe, Nae, Mio Takada, Lynn Chen, James Kyson Lee, Justin Kwong, Joy Osmanski AIFP Guest: Hiroshi Watanabe (lead actor)

Films supported by the vilcek foundation