Louis Vuitton Hawaii International FIlm Festival 2008

Jung Ho, an ex-cop, turned pimp, is driving around Seoul, looking for one of his missing girls, Mi Jin. Suddenly, he dents a car in the alley. When he spots blood splattered on the driver’s shirt, he senses the man, Young Min (Ha Jeong Woo) may have Mi Jin captive. After an intense foot chase, Jung Ho catches Young Min. But because of Jung Ho's pretense as a cop, they are both taken to the police station. The deranged Young Min bluntly confesses he has killed many women, including Mi Jin. As the police force is obsessed with a random search for corpses, Jung Ho is the only one who believes Mi Jin is still alive. With only 12 hours left to detain the serial killer without a warrant, Jung Ho's search begins... THE CHASER resuscitated the dwindling Korean film industry earlier this year, coming out of the gate as a first rate white-knuckle thriller. Be warned, this film is very graphic, of the SE7EN kind.

The narrative of CHERRIES revolves around the eponymous main character, a mentally handicapped woman married to a lame farmer in Yunnan in the early 1980s. Cherry longs to have a child, and when she stumbles upon an abandoned baby girl one night her dream seems to have come true. Her husband, however, is not so enthralled and quickly finds himself locked out of Cherry's affections. This beautifully shot film effectively draws viewers into a haunting, emotionally complex story from a side of Chinese life most of us only ever glimpse through a passing bus window. -- Dan Edwards

A story of selfless love that is also a poetic journey into the meaning of life itself. Trudi is the only one who knows that her husband is terminally ill with cancer. When his doctor suggests that the couple undertake one last trip together, Trudi persuades her husband to accompany her to visit her children and grandchildren in Berlin. However, the members of their family are far too wrapped up in their own lives to be able to take care of the couple. Out of the blue, Trudi dies, and Rudi is completely at a loss. He has no idea what to do with his life, until he decides to go to Japan to visit their youngest son, Karl.

Founded by legendary chef Paul Bocuse, the Bocuse d'Or competition is pretty much the Olympics of haute cuisine, bringing 24 virtuoso chefs from around the world to a sports arena in Lyon, France every other year for a competition in which they have five and a half hours to prepare 12 portions of two complete meals. The chefs represent not only themselves, but their nations-and by extension, their national cuisines. Spain's 20-year victory drought is something of a national thumb in the eye, especially since by itself San Sebastian, boasts of having more Michelin-starred restaurants per square kilometer than any other place in the world. This documentary follows master chef Jesús Almagro as he seeks to bring the Bocuse d'Or home to Spain.

Semu Fatutoa was once a Samoan Chief and the tattoos shrouding his legs are immutable proof of the pain he endured to earn his title. But those tattoos cost him something else: His daughter, nine year old Aveolela, drowned in the ocean on the day Semu received the tattoos. Rather than assume his chiefly duties, he fled. Two years later, Semu is a cab driver in Honolulu. He drives in circles, keeps his legs covered, and slowly forgets his old life until tsunami is forecasted for the city of Honolulu, and anyone with any sense heads for higher ground. Probably the Chief would go, except for the eight-year-old Hawaiian girl wandering the city, whose intrusion into his sequestered life starts to seems like a message.

The theme in this case is the drastic fate of Thai children trapped in the machinations of child prostitution and the black market in human organs. This new work from established Japanese director Sakamoto Junji does not console audiences with the idea of events taking place in a far-off land, and points a finger at Japan's association with the problem, the key grounds for which are shown as apathetic dismissal, the unwillingness to acknowledge problems beyond the borders of one's own country and the burden of guilt upon those who create the demand for child prostitution and trade in children's organs.

Len is a young, autistic girl who has lightening fast reflexes and razor-sharp fighting skills. She lives a quiet life with her mom, and finds comfort in M&Ms and martial art films (which she mimics with frightening accuracy). When her mother is diagnosed with cancer, Len stumbles upon a list of people that owe her mother money. She realizes the only way to cover the cancer treatments is to recover mom's money and decides to track down every lowlife on the list. Len's condition, however, makes it difficult for these thugs to take her seriously. Eventually, however, each comes to realize that Len's hidden talent isn't counting spilled toothpicks; no, this girl is a fierce martial artist. Soon, the word on the street is: If Len knocks, you better have her money or you're time is up ... CHOCOLATE is a fearless, fun and a genre-bending action film that will leave you speechless! Not to be missed!

After falling out with a friend over a boy, one girl discovers that the things we love the most are the things we lose the easiest.

Abel and Junon Vuillard have never recovered from their son Joseph's death. The victim of a rare genetic disorder, Joseph's only hope was a bone marrow transplant. Neither of his parents nor his sister Elizabeth was a compatible donor. In a desperate final effort to save their son, the couple conceived a third child, Henri. Unfortunately, Henri also was incompatible and Joseph died at the age of seven. A CHRISTMAS TALE follows the aftermath of this tragedy, many years later, and explores the tense relationships of the Vuillard family, particularly those between the domineering head of the house, Elizabeth, and Henri, now a hopeless ne'er-do-well. Arnaud Desplechin’s film, arguably his finest, is a bittersweet, gripping and poignant cinematic experience not to be missed. -- Jason Soeda