Tag: hawaii international film festival

HIFF’s otaku highlights: “Marnie,” “Unsung Hero”

This year’s Kawaii Kon was huge. An announced 10,450 people passed through the tightened-security halls of the convention center. I Instagrammed and tweeted whatever I felt like Instagramming and tweeting, took all three days to track down friends in Artist Alley (a task that used to take just a handful of hours to do on the first day), even helped the Otaku Ohana Anonymous Director of Forced Social Interaction deal with a thing or two. When it was all over and I filed my annual Kawaii Kon memorable moments post for Honolulu Pulse, I resolved to take some time off to recharge some seriously drained blogger batteries.

I just didn’t think it would take a good chunk of two weeks for me to feel like those batteries had finally reached “ready to write again!” status. Heck, an entire wave of Nintendo’s Amiibos was announced, then promptly sold out, in less time than that. (I’m sad, too. I really wanted Ness.) Which means that a backlog of blog posts that I have yet to write, including interviews with manga artists Erica Sakurazawa and Moyoco Anno, has grown even larger in the meantime. Apologies for that.

So I’ll start off a little small and work my way up to the bigger posts I had in mind. Our starting point: the upcoming Hawaii International Film Festival Spring Showcase at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium theaters. It kicks off Friday and runs through April 19, and Anderson Le, festival programming director, emailed me during my recharging period to give me a heads-up about two movies that might be of interest to you, dear Otaku Ohana readers.

marnieThe must-see film that lit up pretty much everyone’s radars locally when it was announced is, of course, When Marnie Was There, notable for being not only the last Studio Ghibli firm for director Hiromasa Yonebayashi (who also directed the studio’s Secret World of Arrietty; he left the studio at the end of 2014) but also the last film for Studio Ghibli for the foreseeable future. It’s based on a novel by Joan G. Robinson; here’s the synopsis HIFF provided:

Sent from her foster home in the city one summer to a sleepy town by the sea in Hokkaido, Anna dreams her days away among the marshes. She believes she’s outside the invisible magic circle to which most people belong – and shuts herself off from everyone around her, wearing her “ordinary face.” Anna never expected to meet a friend like Marnie, who does not judge her for being just what she is. But no sooner has Anna learned the loveliness of friendship than she begins to wonder about her new found friend.

When Marnie Was There screens April 18 at 6 p.m. and April 19 at 4:45 p.m.

unsungAnderson also highlighted another movie that may be of interest to those of you who love seeing the costumed stunt acrobatics in shows like Power Rangers, Kikaida and Kamen Rider: Unsung Hero. The synopsis:

Forty-eight-year-old Wataru Honjo is a big fan of Bruce Lee and works as a suit actor (costume wearing stunt performer). He is also president of “Shimoachiai Hero Action Club.” Even though he doesn’t have the typical body for his profession, he has worked in the business for 25 years. When Ryo Ichinose, a cocky rookie actor appears on the scene, they don’t get along at all. However, when Ryo cast in a Hollywood movie and then suddenly quits because its too dangerous, the producers approach Wataru to fill the role…Will he go for it?

Unsung Hero screens Saturday at 1:15 p.m. and Sunday at 3:15 p.m.

If you still need tickets for either of those films’ screenings, you’ll definitely want to use the discount code SPRING17 at checkout when you buy your tickets online; that will allow you to take $4 off the cost of what’s usually a $12 general admission ticket. Quite the deal! For more information or to check out the other films at the Spring Showcase (33 films from 12 countries!), visit hiff.org.

‘Kikaider’ reloads; ‘Kaguya’ comes in

kikaider reloadedIt seems a bit gauche for me to be going into full chatty blogger mode when there’s a tropical storm/likely Category 1 hurricane bearing down on our island home and something else I’ll talk about in a moment, so here are the highlights from what was supposed to be “Otaku Film Feast-ival Part 2.”

>> Kikaider Reboot had its run on Oahu extended; the movie will now be screening at Consolidated’s Kahala 8 theaters for a week starting Friday. Of course, the schedule is likely to change in case Kahala Mall decides to close in advance of Ana, but for now here are Fandango’s listed showtimes.

>> On Tuesday, film distributor GKIDS revealed that Studio Ghibli’s latest film to be translated for U.S. audiences, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, will be opening for a limited engagement at the Kahala 8 starting Oct. 31. Exact showtimes have yet to be posted, but I’ll update you on that whenever I’m able.

And now, a quick housekeeping note: This post is dedicated to the memory of my grandma, Virginia Yadao, who died Tuesday night at the age of 88. (To answer the likely follow-up question: I’m doing fine now, probably because I’ve had many other things on my mind, but I’m definitely bringing a pile of tissues to the funeral next week.) I’m going to be taking a few days off from blogging, but I hope to be back to write about the films of interest to otaku at the Hawaii International Film Festival by late next week. In case I take longer than that to return, here’s the list of films I’m keeping an eye on so you can buy your tickets now:

Stay safe until then, folks.

HIFF snags “Captain Harlock,” “Rurouni Kenshin” for fall

As far as I can remember, early August traditionally hasn’t been the time to start thinking about the Hawaii International Film Festival. We usually got a few showcase film teasers followed by a big horking roster reveal sometime in September, leaving us to soak up the final few weeks of the summer season and ponder countless “what-ifs” and dream selections in the meantime.

The 33rd annual installment, slated this year for Oct. 10-20, is shaking up that thinking in a big way. For the past two weeks over on the HIFF blog, Christopher Hall has been releasing information about this year’s film roster in blocks of 10 films. (It looks like the reveals will be continuing Thursdays through the month.) And among this week’s films is quite the eye-opener: the CGI-animated 2013 revival of Space Pirate Captain Harlock.

Harlock, based on the classic Leiji Matsumoto manga and directed by two-time Kawaii Kon guest Shinji Aramaki, will be appearing a little over a month after it premieres in Japan on Sept. 7. A quick check online finds only one other international venue screening this film at the moment — the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, being held from Aug. 28 through Sept. 7, according to this Anime News Network post — meaning HIFF may well mark Harlock’s U.S. premiere. We’ll see if that distinction holds. Here’s the film’s official website (in Japanese), and here’s a trailer:

Last week’s reveal wasn’t lacking for otaku-magnet material, either: Rurouni Kenshin, the live-action adaptation of Nobuhiro Watsuki’s wandering swordsman manga starring Takeru Sato as Himura Kenshin and Emi Takei as Kamiya Kaoru, will also be screening at HIFF. It’s been making the global rounds ever since it debuted in Japan last August; it has been licensed for distribution in more than 60 countries, after all. Here’s another trailer.

Exact screening dates and times for these films will be released around Sept. 1; ticket sales for members starts Sept. 20, with general sales starting on Sept. 24. Keep an eye on www.hiff.org in the meantime … this year’s shaping up to be another exciting one, methinks.