Firelight Media x Hawai‘i International Film Festival 2024
Firelight Media is proud to be a sponsor of this year’s Hawai‘i International Film Festival, which will feature the World Premiere of our documentary short film collection ‘HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From.’
The 44th running of the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival (HIFF), presented by Halekulani, will take place October 3-13 in Honolulu, with events running through November 10 on neighboring islands.
This year’s HIFF will include the World Premiere of the second season of Firelight Media’s documentary short film collection HOMEGROWN, titled A Part Of/Apart From, presented with Pacific Islanders in Communications, Black Public Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, and PBS, and a related Beyond Resilience panel discussion. The festival will also feature a special award presentation and film screening by Firelight Media Co-Founder and Lead Mentor Stanley Nelson, and a screening of a new animated short film directed by Documentary Lab alum Ciara Leinaʻala Lacy.
Learn more about Firelight Media’s presence at HIFF, and find links to tickets and passes, below.
World Premiere | ’HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From’
On Saturday, October 5, at 3:45 pm HST, HIFF will present the World Premiere of Firelight Media’s documentary short film collection HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From, presented in partnership with Pacific Islanders in Communications, Black Public Media, Latino Public Broadcasting, and PBS. This program comprises eight documentary short films made by emerging, underrepresented filmmakers living in the U.S. territories, Hawai‘i, and their diasporic communities, focusing on stories grappling with issues of sovereignty, agency, and negotiating what it means to be at once “a part of and apart from” the United States.
The new HOMEGROWN films include:
- Casa Laurel, directed by Pati Cruz Martinez and produced by Claudia Calderón Pacheco (Puerto Rico)
- Dear Aloha, directed by Cris Romento and produced by Erin Lau, Vee Hua, and Taylor Gruver (Hawai‘i)
- Escambrón, Playa, direced by Maria del Mar Rosario and produced by Arleen Cruz-Alicea (Puerto Rico)
- Waters of Pu‘uloa, directed by Tiare Ribeaux and produced by Jill Baker (Hawai‘i)
- CHamoru: A Lost Language, directed by Brian Muna and produced by Marissa Muna (Guam)
- What the Storms Taught Us, directed by John P. Wheatley and produced by Yvette A. Broughton (US Virgin Islands)
- Not a U.S. Citizen, directed by Gabby A. Faaiuaso & John “Niko” Patu (American Samoa)
- We Are Taino, directed by Emmanuel Phillips and produced by Joy Santoli (US Virgin Islands)
Beyond Resilience Panel: A Part Of/Apart From
Following the world premiere of HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From, Firelight Media will sponsor a Beyond Resilience panel conversation around themes from the films on Sunday, October 6, at 3:30 pm HST. To build on the themes of liminality and separation woven throughout the films, we will host an intimate Beyond Resilience panel conversation with filmmakers behind the collection.
Though the United States has positioned itself as a beacon of democracy, its colonial power over five territories (Guam, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands) complicates that narrative. These territories, as well as the U.S. state of Hawai‘i, have been exploited for their lush land and resources, and their people deployed as shields in far-flung wars. But because those born in U.S. territories are not legally afforded the same access, opportunities, or rights as U.S. citizens, its people are often considered “a part of and apart from” the continental U.S.
How has the settler colonial U.S. history of separating Indigenous peoples from their lands and histories affected the stories being passed down in Indigenous territories and abroad? What opportunities exist to create bold new stories that center Indigenous or Native culture over “mainstream” U.S. culture? How can these stories exist outside the U.S. context, and why must they? And, for filmmakers, how has inadequate access to capital, talent development, and talent pipelines complicated the process of creating pathways to audiences for these critical stories?
Hawaiʻi Premiere: ‘San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood,’ dir. Stanley Nelson, and Halekulani Vision In Film Award Presentation
Firelight Media Co-Founder and Lead Mentor Stanley Nelson will be presented with HIFF’s Halekulani Vision In Film Award, the apex of the Festival’s honoree distinctions. The award is given to a film professional who has consistently been at the top of their game, considered as one of the global cinema innovators of our time. Learn more
On Saturday, October 12, at 1:30 pm HST, as part of his Vision in Film Award presentation, Stanley Nelson will present a special screening of his new documentary San Juan Hill: Manhattan’s Lost Neighborhood.
In the early 20th century, before the height of the Harlem Renaissance, the New York neighborhood of San Juan Hill was a center of cultural innovation. Musical phenomena like bebop and the Charleston blossomed there, and its clubs and theaters nurtured creative geniuses like James P. Johnson, Josephine Baker, “Ram” Ramirez, and Thelonious Monk. Home to a largely working-class community, San Juan Hill was redlined in the 1930s and targeted by “urban renewal” in the 1940s and 1950s when thousands of residents were displaced to make way for new housing complexes, Fordham University, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Through never-before-accessed records and archives, historical footage, commentary, and interviews with residents, this new documentary by Emmy Award® winner Stanley Nelson traces the neighborhood’s rise and fall and celebrates the people, arts, and culture whose enduring legacy still resonates today. Join HIFF for this special screening followed by an extended post-screening conversation with HIFF Vision In Film Honoree director Stanley Nelson.
Hawaiʻi Premiere: ‘The Queen’s Flowers,’ dir. Ciara Leinaʻala Lacy
On Friday, October 4 at 8:45 pm HST, Documentary Lab alum and In the Making season one filmmaker (Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio: This Is the Way We Rise) Ciara Leinaʻala Lacy will screen her new animated short film The Queens Flowers.
A magical take on a true story, The Queen’s Flowers is an adventure for kids that follows Emma, a Native Hawaiian girl in 1915 Honolulu, as she makes a special gift for the last monarch of Hawai`i, Queen Lili`uokalani.
About Firelight Media
Firelight Media is a nonprofit organization that supports, resources, and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color. Firelight Media’s artist programs include the Documentary Lab, an 18-month fellowship for underrepresented filmmakers; Groundwork Regional Lab, which supports underrepresented filmmakers in the American South, midwest, and U.S. Territories; and the William Greaves Funds for mid-career filmmakers. Firelight Media also produces digital short films, including the forthcoming collection HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From, for PBS Digital Studios.
About HIFF
HIFF has become a premiere cinematic event in the Pacific and annually attracts more than 50,000 film enthusiasts from around the state, the nation and throughout the world. It is one of the premier film festivals in the United States and the only festival spread across an archipelago. HIFF annually presents a series of prizes for established and emerging filmmakers at its annual Awards Gala. In addition to its main competitions, the festival also honors filmmakers for special accomplishments and contributions to cinema culture.
