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NETPAC@25 Events in Lānaʻi 

Pamana! Shared Memories in Filipino Motion Pictures

SATURDAY Nov 14  |  Lānaʻi Theater, Hale Keaka

• 10:00 AM   Film discussion and screening of MAGKAKABAUNG: THE COFFINMAKER with film director Jason Paul Laxamana
• 10:00 AM   Film discourse and screening of FILM: AMERICAN BEGINNINGS ON PHILIPPINES CINEMA
  Presented by documentary filmmaker and historian Nick Deocampo of The Center For New Cinema
  Audience Q&A to follow

SUNDAY Nov 15  |  Lānaʻi Theater, Hale Keaka

• 10:00 AM   Film discussion and screening of MAGKAKABAUNG: THE COFFINMAKER with film director Jason Paul Laxamana
• 10:30 AM   Film discourse and screening of FILM: AMERICAN BEGINNINGS ON PHILIPPINES CINEMA
  Presented by documentary filmmaker and historian Nick Deocampo of The Center For New Cinema
  Audience Q&A to follow

Free to the Lānaʻi Community!
Contact the Makamaka Film Society at (808) 563-0472 with any questions.
Hosted by NETPAC/USA The Makamaka Film Society, and Hawaii International Film Festival
and sponsored by Pūlama Lānaʻi

NETPAC@25 Events in Honolulu 

WEDNESDAY Nov 18  |  Ala Moana Hotel                                                            

• 6:00 - 8:00 PM   Invitation Only: Welcome Party for international delegates

THURSDAY Nov 19  |  Honolulu Museum of Arts' DORIS DUKE THEATRE                                                                          Tickets available at the Honolulu Museum website: http://www.honolulumuseum.org/events/films

• 1:00 PM   Welcome and Introductions
   
• 1:15 PM   ACT OF WAR: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation (1993), 58 minutes. IN PERSON: Filmmakers Puhipau and Joan Lander of Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina.

This documentary is a provocative look at a historical event of which few are aware. In the mid-January, 1893, armed troops from the U.S.S. Boston landed at Honolulu in support of a treasonous coup d'etat against the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Queen Lili’uokalani. The event was described by U.S. President Grover Cleveland as an “Act of War.” Nominated “Best Documentary” 1993 Hawaii International Film Festival.

• 4:00 PM   CHUNHYANG (2000 Korea), 136 minutes. Director: Im Kwan Taek. NETPAC Award Winner.

The film is told through pansori, a traditional Korean form of storytelling that seeks to narrate through song. It is based on Chunhyangga, a traditional Korean legend and is set in 18th century Korea. There are 16 versions of this tale, but this is the first one made for a global audience.

• 7:30 PM   MARGARITA, WITH A STRAW (2014 India), 100 minutes. IN PERSON: Director Shonali Bose, Producer and co-director Nilesh Maniyar, and Director of Photography Anne Misawa. NETPAC Award Winner.

A rebellious young woman with cerebral palsy leaves her home in India to study in New York, unexpectedly falls in love, and embarks on an exhilarating journey of self-discovery.

FRIDAY NOV 20  |  Honolulu Museum of Arts' DORIS DUKE THEATRE

• 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM   As part of the  Rama Watamull Collaborative Lecture Series,  Aruna Vasudev, Founding President of NETPAC, offers a free presentation on South Asian cinema, with special emphasis on India cinema. Film critics Zakir Raju (Bangladesh) and Wilmal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) will respond.
  • How do films by South Asians reflect and promote cultural understanding? What techniques do these films use to tell us how South Asians live their lives and issues they face? What brings them joy and how is that reflected in films? Aruna knows the answers. She also shares her first hand knowledge of how the Indian government increasingly recognizes cinema as both entertainment and as a powerful tool for shaping cultural norms. Asian Film critics Zakir Raju (Bangladesh) and Wimal Dissanayake (Sri Lanka) will respond to Aruna’s views and analysis. 

11:30 AM   Invitation Only: Lunch at Honolulu  Museum of Arts Cafe for international delegates

• 12:30 PM   THE REDFERN STORY (2014 Australia) Documentary, 57 minutes. IN PERSON: Director Darlene Johnson.

This film documents the efforts made through activism and theatre to bring the cause of indigenous people to public notice, as a first step towards gaining land rights and better treatment. With theatre, dance and song as powerful political tools, Redfern became a thriving and vibrant melting pot of politics, art and creativity.

• 3:00 PM   MAKABAUNG THE COFFIN MAKER  (2014 Philippines), 102 minutes. NETPAC Award Winner. IN PERSON: Director Jason Paul Laxamana.

A single father accidentally kills his eight-year-old daughter by administering the wrong medication. He finds it challenging not only to have her body buried but also to bury his own guilt.

Evening co-sponsored by Doris Duke Theatre and Shangri La, Center for Islamic Art and Cultures. One ticket admits you to two screenings PLUS a reception.

• 5:30 PM   SALESI (2015 Hawaii) – First Look Screening of short dance film made in collaboration with filmmakers, dancers, choreographers from Indonesia, Fiji, and Hawaii.  IN PERSON: Co-Directors: Garin Nugroho and Vilsoni Hereniko Choreographers: Rianto, Peter Rockford Espiritu, Kara Miller, and cast and crew.

A King has conquered all the provinces in the land except one, led by the invincible warrior Salesi. He knows Salesi loves beautiful dance, so the King orders his daughter to use her dancing skills to seduce his enemy and lure him back to the palace. His plan works, except the warrior and the princess fall madly in love. The princess becomes pregnant and sends an apology to her father.  The King sends a reply: “Come home, and bring your husband with you. Let us all live together as one happy family!” .....

Adapted from a popular Indonesian folktale called “Mangir”, this film is produced by NETPAC/USA as a labor of love among artists and filmmakers from Indonesia and Hawai`i. Collaborating institutions and companies include the University of Hawai`i, Shangri-La, Fiji Airways, Island Film Group.

Directors: Garin Nugroho and Vilsoni Hereniko
Executive Producer: Jeannette Paulson Hereniko
Producers: Kara Miller, Jala Adolphus, Gerard Elmore, Carol Khewhok, Didi Chang, Daivd Rosen
Cinematographer: Anne Misawa
Choreographers: Peter Rockford Espiritu, Rianto, Kara Miller
Music Composer: Takuma Itoh
Costume Designers: Cheri Vasek, Peter Rockford Espiritu
Editor: George Wang
Cast: Riantoas the King, Wailana Simcock as Salesi, Malia Yamamoto as Prem

SALESI serves:
• To demonstrate creative collaboration between well known film artists from Asia and their talented colleagues from the Pacific and
• To salute the decision by NETPAC to formally change its name from the "Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema" to the "Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema".

• 6:00 PM   Reception sponsored by Shangri La Center for Islamic Art and Cultures
   
• 7:30 PM   HIJRA (2014 Indonesia), US PREMIERE, 161 minutes. IN PERSON: Garin Nugroho, Shangri La Filmmaker in Residence.

Manoa campus, Moore Hall Room 258Manoa campus, Moore Hall Room 258Biographical film which tells of the story of Tjokroaminoto, a national  hero who reformed Indonesia and helped bring equality and education to the common person.

November 21 and 22, 2015

A Symposium

"Chasing the Dream: Culture, Capitalism and Cinema"

The 25th Anniversary symposium will explore issues and share ideas relating to the role finances play in producing Asia and Pacific Island films with cultural integrity. Is the dream worth chasing or is it just an illusion? Can there ever be a happy marriage between culture, money, and cinema? When does the dream become a nightmare? Through a series of moderated panel discussions and film screenings, this symposium explores and interrogates the opportunities as well as challenges when money starts dictating how culture should be deployed in the making and distribution of films that strive for cultural specificity and representational accuracy.

SATURDAY Nov 21  |  Ala Moana Hotel, Carnation Room

• 9:00 AM   Welcome by Jeannette Hereniko, NETPAC/USA President
• 9:10 AM   Keynote Address by Aruna Vasudev, Founder and President of NETPAC (New Delhi, India).
   
• 9:30 AM   PANEL 1: CULTURAL NUANCES AND CREATIVITY: Ella Henry (New Zealand), Gulnara Abikeyeva (Kazakhstan), Nick Deocampo (Philippines), Shaoyi Sun (China), Young-A Park (Korea/USA), Zakir H. Raju (Bangladesh). Moderator: Vilsoni Hereniko.
   
• 11:30 AM   PANEL 2: CO-PRODUCTIONS AND GLOBALIZATION: Anne Misawa (Hawai'i), Donne Dawson (Hawai'i), Soyoung Kim (Korea) and Nilesh Maniyar (India).  Moderator: Wilmal Dissanayake.
• 1:00 PM   Adjourn
   
• 4:30 PM   Invitation Only: Closed Event at Shangri-La: Panel Discussion, Dance Performance & Dinner Reception

SUNDAY Nov 22  |  Ala Moana Hotel, Carnation Room

• 9:00 AM   Keynote: Hasan Elahi, Interdisciplinary Media Artist (Maryland).
   
• 9:30 - 10:45 AM   PANEL 3: FINANCING, MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION: Georja Skinner (Hawai'i), Hasan Abd Muthaib (Malaysia), Joan Lander (Hawai'i), Xie Fei. (China) Moderator: Jeannette Hereniko.
   
• 11:15 AM   PANEL 4: FESTIVALS, AWARDS, AND “ROTTEN TOMATOES”: Anthony Pachco (Hawai'i), Bina Paul, (India) Jason Paul Laxamana (Philippines), Wong Tuck Cheong (Malaysia). Moderator: Philip Cheah.
   
• 12:30 PM   Respondents to the four panels: Aruna Vasudev and Hasan Elahi
   
• 12:50 PM   Closing Comments: Co-conveners of symposium, Wimal Dissanayake and Vilsoni Hereniko

• 1:00 PM   Adjourn

• 4:00-6:00 PM   INVITATION ONLY: HIFF Closing Ceremony and Reception - Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
  • Vision in Film Award presented to Aruna Vasudev on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of NETPAC.
  • NETPAC Jury Award presented by Ashley Ratnavibhushana
• 8:00 PM   Optional: HIFF Closing Night Film  A TALE OF THREE CITIES (China/Hong Kong). Directed by Mabel Cheung. $22 public / $19 senior/student / $17 HIFF Member. Tickets available online http://program.hiff.org/films/detail/tale_of_three_cities_a_2015

MONDAY Nov 23

• 9:00 - 10:30 AM   |  Ala Moana Hotel, Carnation Room                                                                                                     Anne Demy Geroe presents "Teaching Asia Pacific Films online".

• 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM   |  East West Center, John Burns Hall, Room 3015/3019
  Rama Watamull Collaborative Lecture Series, University of Hawaii, Manoa campus wide brown bag seminar with Aruna Vasudev, Founder and President of NETPAC and recipient of Hawaii International Film Festival's "Vision in Film" Award. Free and open to the public.

Aruna Vasudev will be interviewed by Asian film scholar, Wimal Dissanayake. Their conversation will include a discussion about the influence of NETPAC, film criticism and film festivals on Asian cinema, particularly South Asian Cinema. The interview will also explore the remarkable life of Aruna Vasudev with time given or participants to ask questions and offer their comments.

Retrospective of Xie Fei, IN PERSON | University of Hawaii - West Oahu and Manoa, locations below.

Sponsored by NETPAC@25 (www.netpac-usa.org). With support from the Center for Chinese Studies, the Confucius Institute at UHM and the Academy for Creative Media at UHM.

• 12:30-1:50 PM   Panel at the University of Hawaii West Oahu campus—Xie Fei, Bina Paul, Hasan Elahi & Nick Deocampo visit the “Literature & Film” class of instructor Stan Orr, and the ‘Ulu‘ulu Henry K. Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawai‘i

• 12:00 PM   A Girl from Hunan (1986 China), 110 minutes. Manoa campus, Moore Hall Room 258

  • In 1900 a twelve-year-old girl, Xiaoxiao, discovers that her uncle has arranged a marriage for her with a two-year-old boy. Strict clan rules dictate that she must become her husband’s wet nurse (he must call her “sister” until he is old enough to marry her). Years later, Huagou, a local peasant, takes notice of Xiaoxiao, now sixteen and taking good care of her six-year-old “husband,” and a love affair begins—with terrifying consequences.

• 2:00 PM   Black Snow (1990 China), 107 minutes. Manoa campus, Moore Hall Room 258

  • Prophetic in its depiction of China after Tiananmen Square, Black Snow tells the story of a young outsider recently discharged from prison. Chinese society’s shift to an obsession with money and profit leaves him disoriented. After a brief romance with a sophisticated singer who succeeds in the new China, he falls back into a life of crime. The film's lurking handheld camera visually portrays a man doomed to keep making the same mistakes. Black Snow won awards in China as well as a Silver Bear at the Berlin Festival.

• 4:00 PM   Women from the Lake of Scented Souls (1993 China), 105 minutes. Manoa campus Moore Hall 258.

  • The men in a rural Chinese village make secret plans to watch sex and action films from Hong Kong. As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that little village can provide more scandalous and juicy materials than any filmmaker could dream up. The story focuses on a woman called Xiang, her lazy and abusive alcoholic husband, and their mom-and-pop business making sesame oil.

• 6:00 PM  Reception hosted by the Confucius Institute.  Director Xie Fei will be present to discuss all three films screened today. Manoa campus Moore Hall 319.

• 5:00 PM- 7:00 PM   Optional: Fundraiser for Anne Dunham Soetoro Scholarship Fund. Including dance performance by Rianto and screening of SALESI. Donation of $45 to be paid at door. East West Center Keoni Auditorium.

• 8:00 PM- 10:00 PM   Invitation Only: NETPAC Farewell Party for NETPAC@25 delegates

TUESDAY Nov 24

Retrospective of Xie Fei, IN PERSON  |  University of Hawaii, Manoa campus, locations below.

• 10:00 AM   A  Mongolian Tale (1996 Montreal), 103 minutes. Moore Hall Room 258.

• 12:00 PM   Open Discussion on Xie Fei's films, life and career. Moore Hall Room 319. 

• 1:30 PM   Song of Tibet (2000 China), 105 minutes. Moore Hall 258.

  • Shot in Tibet with a local cast, Song of Tibet is a sweeping multigenerational epic played out against the background of a society in turmoil. During her summer vacation, Dawa returns to Lhasa to see her grandparents, only to find that her grandfather is dying. As she and her grandmother care for him, the grandmother, Yixi Zhuoma, tells Dawa of her love for three men. The story is so full of vivid details and unexpected turns that Dawa sets out to find the three men.

• 4:30 PM   Xie Fei presentation to Academy of Creative Media, Advanced Production Class, Crawford Hall, Instructor: Gerard Elmore. Sakamaki Hall D101.