DEGANZ Members Selected for 44th HIFF
The full selection of films for the 44th running of Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF) has been announced, 10 of which feature DEGANZ members.
The festival will include 92 features and 114 short films, with the largest selection of Hawai’i films in competition in the festival’s history. HIFF will present multiple films that explore Indigenous perspectives, narrative sovereignty, and the nurturing of cultural identity. Additionally, HIFF is launching a new spotlight showcasing the best in television.
Feature Films
Tinā
HIFF’s opening film this year!
Struggling after the death of her daughter in the Christchurch earthquakes, Mareta reluctantly takes on a role as a substitute teacher at an elite private school and is surprised to find children in desperate need of guidance, inspiration, and love.
Editor: Luke Haigh
Grafted
When a brilliant but disfigured Chinese scholarship student is shunned by her fellow classmates at a prestigious New Zealand university, she decides to achieve the popularity she so desperately craves by putting her science studies to a new and terrifying use.
Director: Sasha Rainbow
Writers: Mia Maramara, Hweiling Ow, Sasha Rainbow, & Lee Murray
Ka Whawhai Tonu – Struggle Without End
Set in 1864 in Waikato, the film tells the story of a pivotal battle in the first land wars between Māori and Colonial forces through the eyes of two teenagers. Amidst the chaos and violence of the conflict, the two forge an unlikely friendship and take control of their destiny.
Editors: Te Rurehe Paki & Martin Brinkler (ACE)
Writer: Tim Worrall
Marimari
Paul Wolffram’s urgent documentary takes us into the remote highlands of Papua New Guinea and one Indigenous woman’s fight against the insidious influence of sanguma – sorcery violence.
Editor: Annie Collins
The Mountain
Sam, a young girl raised outside of her Māori culture, is determined to connect with her mountain in the hope of curing her cancer. Along the way, she meets misfits Mallory and Bronco, each on their own missions. As they journey further off the beaten track, they learn the true spirit of adventure and the magic of friendship.
Co-Editor: Cushla Dillon
Short Films
Chatterbox
Today is the first day of Tui’s dream life. She snuggles in bed with her well-meaning paakeha (white) boyfriend, Edward. Everything’s perfect until her vagina, Teke, calls him a loser.
Editor: Amarbir Singh
First Horse
It’s 1826, and Aotearoa is on the cusp of colonisation. A young Māori girl’s encounter with a dying man and his horse exposes her to the best and worst of her rapidly changing world.
Editor: Cushla Dillon
Honey Kaha
Dr Julia Love welcomes you on a journey to rediscover her infamous TV character Honey Kaha, an Indigenous action legend who wages war on colonisation and oppression – in the form of seafood poachers who steal her son’s favourite delicacy! Honey Kaha is going to find the stolen seafood and bring the sinister villain to justice.
Writer/Director: Te Waiarangi Ratana (MIFF 2024)
Lea Tupu’anga/Mother Tongue
A young speech therapist who has lied about her language skills to get a job must find a new way to communicate when she is assigned to an elderly Tongan patient with aphasia who can no longer speak English.
Director: Vea Mafile’o (MIFF 2024)
Teine
Tala, a devoted daughter navigates the burdens of being the eldest daughter in a Samoan household. Faced with a pivotal decision, she must choose between her duty to her family or the pursuit of her own personal dreams.
Director: Giselle Ilaoa
Turning The Tide – Mātauranga-Led Restoration
Our marine environment is facing enormous pressure from human activities such as excess sediment, nutrients, and plastic pollution, along with impacts at sea from commercial and recreational fishing, aquaculture, extraction of natural resources, introduction of non-indigenous species, and coastal development. These cumulative stressors are being made worse by a changing climate, leading to increased ocean acidification, sea-level rise, and sea-surface temperatures. Turning the Tide: Mātauranga-led Restoration highlights the work of researchers as they pool their knowledge and resources to improve the health of the seas around Aotearoa New Zealand. In Ōhiwa Harbour, Kura Paul-Burke of the University of Waikato is working with doctoral and undergraduate students Kiri Reihana, Megan Ranapia, Te Amai Moana Paul-Burke and Te Waikamihi Lambert to research and restore mussel beds in a Mātauranga-led approach.
Director: Magnolia Lowe
Editor: Amanda Mulderry
Producer: Tui Ruwhiu
Congratulations to everyone involved in the selected films!
Last updated on 17 September 2024
