HIFF returns to MACC with all exclusive Made in Hawaiʻi films

The 44th annual Hawai‘i International Film Festival (HIFF) presented by Halekulani celebrates returns to the MACC Saturday, October 19 and Sunday, October 20 with six Made in Hawaii Feature Films and four Made in Hawaii Short Films under the theme “Creating New Traditions” highlighting the best in new cinema from Hawai‘i, Asia, the Pacific Islands, and the world while blending the rich cultural heritage of the islands with innovative storytelling techniques and diverse perspectives. 

“This year, we have the largest selection of Hawai`i films in competition in the Festival’s history, with representation from many of our neighbor islands.” Said Beckie Stocchetti, HIFF Executive Director. “We are presenting multiple films that explore Indigenous perspectives, narrative sovereignty, and the nurturing of cultural identity.”

Now in its eighth year, the Made in Hawai‘i Film awards focus on the dynamic and flourishing local independent film scene that strives onward in the Hawaiian Islands. Fiction, Non-fiction and short films that are made by locally-based filmmakers or involve locally-based stories are eligible for the Best Made In Hawai‘i Award. which comes with cash prizes supported by the Nichols Family Film Fund. To date HIFF has awarded $70,000 in cash prizes to the local filmmaking community through the Made in Hawaii Award. The HIFF Made in Hawai‘i film program is supported by Hawai‘i State Film Office and Nichols Film Fund. All films are eligible to be showcased on Hawaiian Airlines as part of HIFF’s ongoing in-flight programming.

The Made In Hawai‘i program told a range of stories, reflecting the diversity of talents and perspectives coming out of Hawai‘i. This year’s Best Made In Hawai‘i Feature winner was split to two winners. “We were astounded by the quality of films in narrative, documentary, animation & experimental films. Essential themes that resonate locally and internationally,” shared the Jury which include Chris Kekaniokalani Bright, screenwriter LILO & STITCH (2025); Vea Mafile’o, producer-director (THE PANTHERS, LEA TUPU’ANGA / MOTHER TONGUE); Keoni DeFranco, Managing Director of Mālama Studios at Purple Maiʻa Foundation.

The Best Made in Hawaii Documentary Feature Film Award went to STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS which highlights the movement to protect Mauna Kea through the intergenerational stories of women in three Native Hawaiian families as they stand for the sacred mountain. The film was directed by Jalena Keane-Lee and produced by Amber Espinoza and Erin Lau.

The Best Made in Hawaii Narrative Feature Film Award went to MOLOKAI BOUND which follows a wayward Hawaiian man after years of incarceration trying to reconnect with this family, most important rebuilding his relationship with his son. The film was written and director by Alika Tengan and produced by Nina Yang Bongiovi, Forest Whitaker, Jesy Odio, Chapin Hall and Alika Tengan.

The Made In Hawai‘i jury also recognized THE QUEEN’S FLOWERS directed by Ciara Lacy for Made In Hawai‘i Best Short Film. Under HIFF’s designation as an Academy Award® qualifying festival for short films, THE QUEEN’S FLOWERS is eligible to qualify to be nominated for an Oscar for Narrative Short.

All screenings will take place in the MACC’s McCoy Studio Theater starting Saturday, Nov. 19 and concluding Saturday, Nov. 20. Tickets are available at MauiArts.org.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19:

1 p.m. |  KANIELA: THE DANIEL KALEIKINI STORY | 68 Minutes | English | 2024
Director: Michael Lum, Pawel Nuckowski
UNITED STATES PREMIERE
Made In Hawai‘i

A loving tribute to the late ‘Ambassador of Aloha’ including interviews with the man himself completed before his passing last year. Born into a large family in Papakōlea, Kaniela began working in Hawai‘i’s tourism industry in the 1950s and grew to be a beloved and internationally known entertainer with over 30 years of performing, not only here, but Las Vegas and Japan as well. One of the last projects he worked on was recording with his grandson Nicholas.

3 p.m. |  MADE IN HAWAI‘I SHORTS PROGRAM: HEALING LAHAINA, IT’S SHAVE ICE, KAI HALI‘A (SEA OF MEMORY), and RECLAIM | 89 Minutes | English & Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) 

HEALING LAHAINA |  35 minutes | English | 2024
Director: Laurel Tamayo.

Director Laurel Tamayo’s family lost their multigenerational home in the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, the deadliest wildfire in modern US history. Through personal recounts, this documentary paints an intimate portrait of survival, climate change and colonization, and community resilience.
 

IT’S SHAVE ICE | 19 minutes | English | 2023
Director: Jaye Orikasa

Discover the colorful journey and stories that have made shave ice the popular treat it is today. From the behind-the-scenes action of local shave ice shops to the cultural historyand significance of Hawaiʻi’s coolest snack, IT’S SHAVE ICE will introduce you to a world beyond the syrup and snowy ice so many have come to love.

KAI HALI‘A (SEA OF MEMORY) | 9 minutes | English & Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) | 2024
Directors: Angelique Kalani Axelrode

In the abstract realm of memory, a diasporic kanaka struggles to connect with their family and lover. By engaging with their moʻokūʻauhau (genealogy) and calling on their kūpuna (ancestors) and ke kai (ocean), they are able to cope with buried trauma and come back to themselves. Seeing memory as an intricate ʻupena (net) of both intangible and tangible threads of reality, intertwined with visceral feelings that intimately connect us with our kūpuna (ancestors) and the ʻāina (land), and the art of remembering brings us back to our core.

RECLAIM |  26 minutes |  English & Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) | 2024
Directors: Geeta Gandbhir, Justyn Ah Chong

Honor follows in the footsteps of his older brother Hanalei in learning the Hawaiian tradition of hula. The young brothers are proud of their role in reclaiming Hawaiian heritage, not just through dance but also the meaningful power of language and custom. Hanalei is selected to dance at Merrie Monarch, a prestigious competition considered the “Olympics of Hula.” Along with the rest of their family, Honor cheers Hanalei on as he takes the stage and plays his part in sustaining the practice of hula — one that has stayed resilient in the face of cultural erasure and colonization.

5:30 p.m. |  ONE MILLION DOLLA  | 99 Minutes | English | 2024
Director: Stefan C. Schaefer
WORLD PREMIERE
Made In Hawai‘i

In this Maui-set mockumentary, Big Island content creator Alex Farnham plays the Guy, a houseless buffoon with a heart of gold. He chases chickens and sells coconuts in his happy-go-lucky existence. However, everything changes when he’s unexpectedly gifted one million dollars and a documentary crew decides to follow him. Before Guy knows it, people come out of the woodwork, latching on to become his posse and he soon finds out who his real friends are.

8 p.m. | TERRESTRIAL | 76 Minutes | English | 2024
Director: Alex Farnham

The struggle of a teacher being forced to work in an environment where he feels as if he doesn’t belong and to work with a severed partner from his past. Maybe a friendly creature is the only one he can count on. Buckle up because this sci-fi rocket is about to take off! Written, directed and starring Big Island filmmaker and Internet personality Alex Farnham and co-starring THE WIND AND THE RECKONING’s Lindsay Watson and local comedian Easton James, TERRESTRIAL is an 808, homegrown, ode to horror like THE FACULTY, mashed together with sci-fi comedies like EVOLUTION.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 20:

1 p.m. | SHAKA, A STORY OF ALOHA | 80 Minutes | English | 2024
Director: Alexander Bocchieri
HAWAI‘I PREMIERE
Made In Hawai‘i

The Lāʻie community figures large in this documentary that tries to find the origins of the state’s “Swiss army knife” of good-natured gestures. The latter part of the documentary spends a good deal of its time relating the fascinating story of community leader Tutu Hamana Kalili back in the 1910s that may have started it all.

3:30pm | STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS | 82 Minutes | English | 2024
Director: Jalena Keane-Lee

STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS follows the largest political movement in modern Hawaiian history, and the indigenous women leaders who have successfully sustained it since 2010. At the center of the global movement are Pua Case and her two daughters Hāwane Rios and Kapulei Flores. They are joined by Mehana Kihoi and Leinaʻala Sleightholm who have changed their families’ lives by joining the movement. All three families have put their bodies on the line, faced arrest standing off with police, and testified as key petitioners suing the State of Hawaiʻi to prevent the building of the world’s largest telescope on their sacred mountain. Through the lens of mothers and daughters, our film explores intergenerational healing and the social and emotional labor of retaining ancient ceremonies in a rapidly modernizing world. With the fate of the telescope still to be decided, the film shows that victory is in the perseverance of a movement and the intergenerational healing found in this sisterhood.

Playing with 

THE QUEEN’S FLOWERS | 12 Minutes | English | 2024
Director: Ciara Lacy

A magical take on a true story, THE QUEEN’S FLOWERS is an animated short adventure for kids that follows Emma, a native Hawaiian girl in 1915 Honolulu, as she makes a special gift for the last monarch of Hawaiʻi, Queen Liliʻuokalani.

6 p.m. |  MOLOKAʻI BOUND | 112 Minutes | English & Hawaiian (ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi) | 2024
Director: Alika Tengan

After years of incarceration, Kainoa De Silva, a wayward Hawaiian man, is released on parole and committed to reconnecting with his family. Most important to Kainoa is rebuilding a relationship with his adolescent son, Jonathan. But acclimating to a normal life in Hawai‘i is harder than it seems. While working to get back on his own feet, Kainoa must contend with pressures from old friends and relatives. In response he tends to do all the wrong things for the right reasons. In trying to prove himself worthy of his family and his native heritage, Kainoa’s journey is a story of both reconciliation and redemption.

All films are unrated and film titles and show times are subject to change. For more details on HIFF and this year’s films go to https://hiff.org/.