In 2010 the Hawai’i International Film Festival (14-24 October) turned thirty. Two hundred and seventeen films were shown in this edition, with Zhang Yimou’s new film Under the Hawthorn Tree opening the event which was attended by the young actors Dongyu Zhou and Xiao Dou and producer Zhang Weiping. The films that competed for the NETPAC award were Seesaw (Japan), Monga (Taiwan), Bi, Don’t Be Afraid (Vietnam), Blue Mansion(Singapore), Taipei Exchanges (Taiwan), Cin(T)A (Indonesia), Fourth Portrait (Taiwan) and Hot Summer Days (Hong Kong). The jury selected the Monga, directed by Doze Chen-Zer Niu “for excellence in direction, for beautifully capturing the time period with stunning art direction, cinematography and sound, and for the film’s strong character development through moving performances from the film’s young ensemble cast.” A NETPAC luncheon is held each year to honour the NETPAC jury and filmmakers from Asia and the Pacific Islands films are screening at the Festival. It was held at the Dole Cannery Ballroom and was co-sponsored by NETPAC/USA, Asia Pacific Films.com and LUA Technologies, a New York-based company which demonstrated their new technology in creating a virtual workspace for the film and video production industry. More than four dozen directors, producers and critics from China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, New Zealand and the United States attended the luncheon, which honoured the festival’s NETPAC Jury members Patricia Gillespie (chair, U.S.), George Chun Han Wang (Taiwan) and Vicci Ho (Hong Kong). At the luncheon, AsiaPacificFilms.com announced that 330 films were being streamed online, up from 120 from the time of the launch exactly one year ago. The Festival’s Awards show was held on Tuesday, 19 October. The winners were as follows: The Vision in Film Award, presented by City & County of Honolulu, went to Roger & Chaz Ebert. The Maverick Award, presented by Dr. Lawrence K.W. Tseu, went to Nancy Kwan. The Award for Career Achievement went to co-directors Qiankuan Li & Guiyun Xiao. The Outstanding Industry Leadership Award went to Ren Zhonglun. The Local Short Film Award went to two films, Malaga & The Green Affair. The Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Documentary went to I Wish I Knew (China), directed by Zhang-ke Jia. The Halekulani Golden Orchid Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Son of Babylon (Iraq), directed by Mohamed Al-Daradji. There was a strong China presence at the festival with the Shanghai/UH student film exchange. The SMART (Student Media Art) Exchange brings Shanghai University and ACM (Academy for Creative Media) students together twice annually—in Honolulu and Shanghai—for joint filmmaking and film screenings. China’s Sixth Generation director Zhang-ke Jia also gave a seminar focusing on contemporary Chinese society and a documentary approach to story telling. Another ACM event was with Taiwanese-American filmmaker Arvin Chen, director of Au Revoir Taipei, who visited the ACM classes to discuss his film
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