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NETPAC/USA Film Festival

Aditya Tuesday February 10, 2009

During 2008, the 15 members of NETPAC/USA were busiest in October and November because of activities during Hawaii International Film Festival followed by a NETPAC Film Festival. The NETPAC Film Festival took place from November 19 through November 29 at the beautiful Doris Duke Theater at the Honolulu Art Academy and featured seven 2007 feature films fromAsia - including many previous winners of the coveted NETPAC Award. The Doris Duke Theater was the co-sponsor of the Festival which attracted about 500 people.

The Festival was inspired by the Jogja-NETPAC Film Festival in Indonesia. The majority of the films were from the 2008 festival in Jogjakarta that were curated by Board member, Philip Cheah. NETPAC/USA members Ming Bao Yu and Wimal Dissanayake lead lively after-film discussions after several film screenings, while other NETPAC/USA members introduced the films. It was agreed that the films provided a rare glimpse inside a changing contemporary Asia from the perspective of insiders who were talented filmmakers. It was not always a comfortable glimpse, but always provocative and thoughtful. In addition the festival resulted in  three other important advantages:

1) It provided visibility to the activities of NETPAC through publicity such as this article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin: http://www.starbulletin.com/features/20081114_winning_asian_cinema.html?mobile=true

2) Funds raised from the festival allowed NETPAC/USA to sponsor a NETPAC jury member from Asia to attend the October 2008 Hawaii International Film Festival.

3) Funds from the festival also allowed NETPAC/USA the ability to host a luncheon for Asian and Pacific Islander filmmakers attending the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF).

On Oct 13, NETPAC/USA members hosted over 30 guests from Asia and the Pacific attending HIFF, for lunch and conversation. Each person attending was introduced, giving their connection to Asia and Pacific island filmmaking. Many filmmakers said it was one of the highlights of the festival. We were able to provide great networking opportunities for the filmmakers, scholars, critics, programmers and distributors attending. NETPAC/USA would like to make this luncheon a tradition.

We are grateful to the filmmakers and film distributors who made all this possible by donating their films for the NETPAC film festival in Honolulu. The titles screened included:

Opening Film | Those Three (Iran) Our Time / Kaal (India) The Little Moth / Xue Chan (China) The Photograph (Indonesia) Good Cats / Hao Mao (China) Takva - A Man's Fear of God (Turkey) Paper Cannot Wrap Up The Embers (Cambodia/ France) Last Queen of the Earth / Akharin Malakeye Zamin (Iran)

 

by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko

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