Awkwafina and Wong Kar-wai heading for Hawaii film festival
LOS ANGELES: Crazy Rich Asians breakout Awkwafina and legendary director Wong Karwai will be among the VIP guests at the 38th edition of the Hawaii International Film Festival next month.
Also joining them is The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun.
Zhang Yimou’s Shadow has been named as the opening film. And Peter Farrelly’s The Green Book, which earned the audience award in Toronto, is set as the festival’s centrepiece screening.
Other highlights include Roma, directed Alfonso Cuaron; If Beale Street Could Talk, directed by Barry Jenkins; Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s Spain- set thriller Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz; and Natalie Portman’s Vox Lux, directed by Brady Corbet.
The closing night presentation is the world premiere of Hawaiian feature documentary Moananuiakea: One Ocean. One People. One Canoe, directed by Na’alehu Anthony. This film looks at the latest worldwide voyage of Hpkuleia, four decades after its maiden voyage sparked the Hawaiian Renaissance and inspired a new generation of navigators and voyagers to sail beyond the horizon of the Pacific.
Wong is the director in focus this year. The festival has set three of the Hong Kong maestro’s most iconic titles for screening: In The Mood For Love, Happy Together, and Chungking Express.
“This year’s festival continues the success of our Made in Hawaii competition, shining a spotlight on Hawaii’s creative entrepreneurs, and includes an incredible line up of groundbreaking work from across Asia and the Pacific Rim, festival favourites from Sundance, Cannes, and Toronto, and a strong focus on indigenous Hawaii and Pacific filmmakers,” said Beckie Stocchetti, HIFF executive director. “Evolving with new programmes supporting student voices, civic engagement, and a brand new Virtual Reality exhibit, HIFF continues to grow and celebrate the achievements in cinema with breakout stars such as Awkwafina, and legendary filmmakers such as Wong Kar Wai.”
The festival is slated to run from Nov 8-18.