2010 Big Island Film Festival participants. Photos By Tiffany Edwards Hunt. All rights reserved. Use with permission only.
I was fortunate to be invited to the 2010 Big Island Film Festival held at the Mauna Lani Resort. Mahalo nui loa to the Sears, Cathy Tarleton, and Jaisy Jardine of the Fairmont Orchid!
BIFF is in its fifth year in the making. The Sears, of Waikoloa, conceived of this great idea inspired from the Maui Film Festival. In all, 66 films were featured May 12-16, 2010. I caught two days of and as many films as I could, having attended with a fellow mother of a toddler.
I can’t be more complimentary of BIFF. What a great concept. Cozy up in one of the plush resorts at Mauna Lani or feel free to drop in for the films in a hotel amphitheater or out under the tropical night along the idyllic Kohala Coast. The films were generally compelling and interesting.
If I could change one thing about BIFF, I’d make the films more family-oriented. Leo Sears admitted this to festival goers without me saying anything to him beforehand. The festival needs to be more accommodating for children, actually. The event is generally pretty epic, please don’t misread me. I am merely recommending what I think would make the festival more grand than it is and mine should be considered free and unsolicited advice.
I went to the event with another mother, with grandiose expectations of being able to take in more films than we did. Partly, it’s my bad for having expectations. And I have grandiose expectations of motherhood. We have good children, so I believed it would be possible to bring our children to all the films.
We tried to take our 1- and 2-year-olds to Yokwe Bartowe after a scrumptious dinner at Monstera. (Be sure to check out that restaurant recently opened by former Fairmont Sushi chef Norio Yamamoto. The Japanese food is nothing short of delicious, despite the buttered soba noodles.)
For our Yokwe Bartowe viewing, the wind prevented the raising of the big screen. We gathered in an impressive little outdoor amphitheatre at the Mauna Lani Shops watching the movie on a big-screen television. Our keiki were pretty animated through the film. Their noises were happy, but I could see how they could be disruptive to moviegoers. I reasonsed the movie was subtitled. Still, we endured looks of disapproval from grey-haired women in camp chairs.
Yokwe Bartowe is a Marshalese Island story written by Jack Niedenthal about an evil demon bird that tries to destroy a family. I liked getting a glimpse of a culture I really know nothing about. You could tell the film was low budget but the storyline was compelling and captivating, I liked it. Niedenthal was among the film makers of the featured films that attended the four-day festival.
To the attending crowd at the Sunday brunch he joked that he’d seen 66 films in four days, “and I’d like to try meth at least once.” Like Niedenthal, I grew weary of the same disturbing advertisements from the Hawaii Meth Project borrowed from the U.S. mainland. I wish the Hawaii Meth Project would work with some Hawaii filmmakers and change the ad, it’s so obnoxious.
After the looks from the grey-haired women throughout Niedenthal’s film, my friend and I took turns either watching films or the children. That was plan B, but it ultimately proved to be quite a nice break for us moms. I really enjoyed and dressed up for the time on my own to take in some movies.
One Night, a film by Misa Tupou, was among 66 featured at the 2010 Big Island Film Festival.
Among the films I took in, most impressive to me was One Night by Misa Tupou, about being homeless. The film was totally silent, except for street noises, and the main character wore a mask likened to Phantom of the Opera. The story centered around a homeless man conveying his appreciation for life, even as his seemed so hopeless. ”There is life. Give it.”
Jake’s Corner, a story about an ex-football-star bar owner who finds himself caring for his young nephew, followed One Night, and I got all caught up in the characters and cried for them. It was an emotional Saturday morning.
Ten of the films were shot in Hawaii, and six were animated. It sure would be nice if more of the films could be from Hawaii, but I’m sure that is a BIFF long-term goal.
Kudos to the staff at the Fairmont Orchid, which along with Mauna Lani Bay Hote and Bungalow and the Shops and Mauna Lani, was the setting for BIFF. The shuttle between the two hotels and the Mauna Lani Shops was quite convenient, with capable and accommodating drivers.
The Fairmont Orchid staff, namely bell captains Paul Carney and Dane Carvalho and Russell, the server who commutes to work from Nanawale Estates in Puna, were stellar hosts, and I’m not exaggerating. We tipped them as well as we could for putting up with and shrugging off all our bags, toys — even a heap of coconuts.
I truly appreciate the staff at places like Mauna Lani Resort. Many of them, if they weren’t from East Hawaii, commuted from the other side. I can empathize with their grueling daily commute. It’s got to be a tough life that commute.
I generally feel like I can relate more with them I can my fellow hotel guests. The occasional conversations with the guests wading the pool or lounging by it are worthwhile, but typically consisting of me offering advice on how they can maximize their Hawaiian stay. Usually, I suggest that they get in their rental car and drive around to the other side of the island where they get to truly experience everything that is being fashioned after in the resort.
It’s fun to play tour guide. And it’s really fun to people watch. I love making up stories about the people I see. The BIFF screenwriting workshop with Ron Osborn filled up too fast, or I would have signed up. It would be fun to try and write a movie, I was thinking that as I watched some of this year’s films.
Maybe next year. BIFF is a must for me again next year, that’s for sure. I’d like to be able to bring my child to film or two. Hopefully, filmmakers will rise to Leo Sears’ challenge to make and submit more family-oriented films.
