Louis Vuitton Hawaii International FIlm Festival 2008

Raquela is a transsexual - or "ladyboy" - from the Philippines who dreams of escaping the streets of Cebu City for a fairy tale life in Paris. In order to make her dreams come true, she turns from prostitution toward the more lucrative business of Internet porn. Her success as a porn star brings new friends, including Valerie, a ladyboy in Iceland, and Michael, the owner of the website Raquela works for. Valerie helps Raquela get as far as Iceland. From there, Michael offers her a rendezvous in Paris. Will Paris be everything she dreamed of? And will Michael turn out to be her Prince Charming?

VOICES is the story of a musician named Ariel who offers violin lessons to a child of the slums. Through the violin, the abused child Onyok is able to get back his voice from a mute, desensitized existence. A violin teacher and his student, a mute 7-year old abused child in a shelter, develop a friendship stemming from their love of music. Ariel discovers the immense talent of Onyok hiding behind a veneer of silence and pain caused by an unhappy and cruel father. In the developing relationship of teacher and student, both characters reveal more of themselves that otherwise may have remained unspoken. They discover each others strengths and failures through the violin lessons. -- Chuck Boller

Four women filmmakers tackle four different stories about lives of marginalized women in Indonesia: in "Chant From an Island", a midwife in a deserted island sacrifices her dying health to rescue a mentally challenged woman; in "Chant From a Tourist Town", a high-school student toys around with an overwhelming access to free sex, which may put her life in jeopardy; in "Chant From a Village", a single mother is forced to see her daughter and her best friend fall victims to women and children trafficking syndicate; and in "Chant From the Capital City", a middle class Chinese woman is about to be separated from her only daughter because of an HIV threat.

Tae (Korean heartthrob Jang Hyuk) has always fantasized about becoming a ballroom dancer. He's a natural and completely self-taught, but eventually, the young man realizes there's only one way to take his dancing to the next level - he must leave Korea. His lifelong dream takes him to Singapore where he's able to take lessons from Emi Lim (Fann Wong), a former ballroom dancing champion. Before long, Tae falls deeply in love with Emi. Sadly, the timing just isn't right. Emi is focused on the upcoming national ballroom dancing championships. What's more, Emi's dreadful boyfriend Cheng (Jason Scott Lee) is the jealous type, and a former martial arts champion. As the affection between Tae and Emi grows, Cheng becomes wildly possessive and will stop at nothing to quash the budding romance... -- Jason Soeda

Using animation and live action, three directors turn music, theatre and film into a new unity. The film's title KANTATA TAKWA (named after the orchestra) stands for the 'kantata' of love, comprising of patience, dedication and sincerity – a state of mind that strives for dignity and humanism. As co-director Eros Djarot says: "The central question is: What for? What do we live for in this bloody world? If we can't answer this question, we're finished." Despite the independent status and the experimental nature of the film, it had a relatively large budget thanks to the support of the oil billionaire Djodi Setiewan, who also has a walk-on role in the film. The three directors come together from different backgrounds in their attempt to search for the roots of Indonesian culture. -- Singapore International Film Festival

Amer is the best friend of Nada's husband, Zouheir, who's spent the past 10 years in prison for unspecified reasons; Amer has been looking after her and her daughter. His obvious pleasure in this task, and time he devotes to it, proves a thorn in the side of his jealous wife Salma, who alternates between threatening to divorce him and begging him to impregnate her with a second child. Meanwhile, Nada has so come to rely on Amer that having him in her bed seems inevitable, in spite of both parties feeling guilty. When it looks like Zouheir will be released at last, Amer faces a final struggle between his noble intentions and all-too-human feelings.

25-year-old Sita makes a living as a prostitute in a karaoke bar, but not even this is enough to support her sick mother who is looking after her little girl in the country, nor does she have sufficient funds to pay off her debt to the brutal pimp Suroso. Desperation forces the young woman to find an uninviting but cheap bedsit in an attic room above a photographic studio. Its owner, the taciturn, withdrawn aging photographer Johan, begins to form a part of her life - if in quite a different way from the men she has known until now. The woman resolves to start afresh. When she discovers that the sick photographer only has a few months to live, she decides to fulfill his last wishes.

11-year old Niaz shows little enthusiasm working at his father's gun shop, yet is too scared to confront his father about wanting an education. His uncle decides to take up his cause, but in the end, it is Niaz who must overcome his fear, and tell his father he does not want to do what has been expected of him since birth. This finely tuned screenplay balances the domestic conflict with scenes of Sher Alam (Niaz's father) and his friends discussing the state of things ranging from Osama bin Laden to the war on terror and, inevitably, the regional role of the U.S. These illuminating insights into how ordinary people in this region view the world deliver a vital understanding of the cultural factors surrounding Niaz's desire to look outward and better himself.

This film will be announced later.