Hawaiian Film Festival Offers Moviegoers

 

By Heidi Chang

Hawaiian hula dancers usually wear skirts made of grass… but not the one advertising¹ this year's Hawaii International Film Festival. Her skirt was fashioned of flowing strips of film stock. It was a fitting image for a festival that has showcased new films and emerging talent from Asia and the Pacific for almost a quarter-century.

Each year, thousands of filmgoers pack the Hawaii International Film Festival, because they know this is the place to see new films from across Asia and around the Pacific.

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The festival's executive director, Chuck Boller, travels far and wide to find each year's entries.

"Everything from Australia and New Zealand, through the Philippines, Southeast Asia for example, India even. Traditional Asia like Japan, China, Korea. We go into places like Kazakhstan, and Mongolia looking for films. Also, the U.S., Canada and Mexico."

The Hawaii International Film Festival began in 1981, as a project of the East-West Center in Honolulu. Since then, it has evolved into an independent non-profit organization. Mr. Boller says its mission is to create cultural understanding between the East and the West through film.

"We do it because we think that Asian and Pacific Rim² cinema are underappreciated. They're just starting to get quite a bit more notice in the United States, and some films in particular. But another reason we focus on those areas of the world, is that the ethnic³ make up of the people in Hawaii is from those areas. So we have a natural built-in audience that's very eager for films from their home countries in their native languages."

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By featuring nearly 170 films from 24 countries, the annual festival plays an important role in attracting international media attention. Many of the features are picked up by other festivals. Film critic and festival juror, Emanuel Levy⁵, says this exposes American audiences to artists and directors they might not see otherwise.

"Foreign language cinema in general, is in dismay in the U.S. So nowadays, the only way to see foreign language cinema from different countries is to go to film festivals such as the Hawaii International. Because if we have to depend on what gets released commercially in the United States, we would be very limited in what we see."

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The festival awarded its first-ever Achievement in Acting⁴ Award this year to Maggie Cheung, one of Asia's biggest stars. She has appeared in 75 films and is currently starring in the blockbuster Hero, directed by China's Zhang Yimou.

"It's not really a huge surprise that Hero is doing well following the success of Crouching⁶ Tiger Hidden Dragon," (notes Ms. Cheung) "because I think for the Western audience, especially the Americans, martial⁷ arts films has always been something popular and to now have like new martial arts films, instead of always watching Bruce Lee's or Jackie Chan's, you know, we're more used to that kind of martial arts films."

Earlier this year, the stunning⁸ Hong Kong native won the Best Actress award at Cannes for the Canadian-French film Clean. She says landing a major role in American films can be a challenge for an Asian actress.

"Where I come from it's not so hard because, you know, we have all these films being made each year. But I think if I ever wanted to make it here, it could be harder. [But] it's changing already, and I think in five years, it'll be just normal to see a Chinese actress playing a main part in a Western film."

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The festival's top feature award went to Taste of Tea, by Katsuhito Ishii. Chuck Boller recalls that the Japanese director's first film, Shark Skin Man and Peach Hip⁹ Girl, made a big impression when it was shown at the festival in 1997.

"Quentin Tarantino was at our festival that year and he saw the film and liked it so much he looked up the director," (Mr. Boller says) "He then went to Japan to visit the director and ended up hiring the director to direct the animated¹⁰ sequences in Kill Bill."

In the long run, many here believe the Hawaii International Film Festival and film in general, can play a powerful role in promoting cultural understanding worldwide.  Maggie Cheung points to the success of her recent movie, Hero.

"The film is not about the history of China, but then I guess a lot of people would learn a lot of things about China [from watching it]. If I saw an Iranian film, I would learn a lot of things about Iran that I didn't know, or at least you'd get a feel of how the people are, their landscape, their language and everything."

Festival juror David Wenham agrees. The Australian actor stars in Getting' Square, which took home the festival's Audience Award.

"I think art and cinema is something that transcends¹² boundaries. It crosses boundaries and it can change people, regardless of the way one lives. I think the geography doesn't matter, you know, film can touch people. And it can, yeah, transcend¹¹ language, as well."

For VOA news now, I am Heidi Chang in Honolulu.

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注释：
hula 草裙舞
filmgoer 影迷
Kazakhstan 哈萨克斯坦
underappreciated 未得到正确评价的，未受充分赏识的
juror 审查委员
Maggie Cheung 张曼玉
blockbuster 一鸣惊人的事物（电影）
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 电影《卧虎藏龙》
Bruce Lee 李小龙
Jackie Chan 成龙
Kill Bill 电影《杀死比尔》
transcend 超越，胜过

1 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

2 rim   

n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界

参考例句：

• The water was even with the rim of the basin.盆里的水与盆边平齐了。
• She looked at him over the rim of her glass.她的目光越过玻璃杯的边沿看着他。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

5 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

6 crouching   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a hulking figure crouching in the darkness 黑暗中蹲伏着的一个庞大身影
• A young man was crouching by the table, busily searching for something. 一个年轻人正蹲在桌边翻看什么。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

7 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

8 stunning   

adj.极好的；使人晕倒的

参考例句：

• His plays are distinguished only by their stunning mediocrity.他的戏剧与众不同之处就是平凡得出奇。
• The finished effect was absolutely stunning.完工后的效果非常美。

9 hip   

n.臀部，髋；屋脊

参考例句：

• The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

10 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

11 transcend   

vt.超出，超越(理性等)的范围

参考例句：

• We can't transcend the limitations of the ego.我们无法超越自我的局限性。
• Everyone knows that the speed of airplanes transcend that of ships.人人都知道飞机的速度快于轮船的速度。

12 transcends   

超出或超越（经验、信念、描写能力等）的范围( transcend的第三人称单数 )； 优于或胜过…

参考例句：

• The chemical dilution technique transcends most of the difficulties. 化学稀释法能克服大部分困难。
• The genius of Shakespeare transcends that of all other English poets. 莎士比亚的才华胜过所有的其他英国诗人。