Louis Vuitton Hawaii International FIlm Festival 2008

The filmmaker parallels her experience upon returning to New Orleans with filmmaker Stevenson Palfi, who committed suicide after Hurricane Katrina.

'City of Cranes' is a poetic celebration of the lives of crane drivers, whose work brings them hundreds of feet above the ground.

When Oromo Ethiopian Abeba Mohammed moves to suburban Mt Albert, From behind her purdah, and no knowledge of English, she must struggle to make a connection with the people of her new homeland.

In 1999, Governor George W. Bush buys a ranch in Crawford, Texas and calls it "home"; an insular community explodes overnight. Crawford is instantly overrun with international press corps and droves of tourists. Shops open; Main St. booms; the locals watch themselves on national TV. But soon, the town's compelling characters feel the human impact of political stagecraft. The spotlight exacerbates tensions between freethinking and conformity, pushing a progressive teacher and her favorite student to the edge and beyond. Now, the Crawford's boom is busting like the Presidency itself. But seven years of political stagecraft have made a graver human impact. Two characters are dead and one is leaving town. Bush is soon to abscond. Left to deal with the aftermath are the real people of Crawford.

Although living in extreme poverty in North Korea, Yong-su and his family find contentment and comfort just being together. When his pregnant wife because critically ill, Yong-su secretly sets out to China to find medicine to cure her. Yong-su becomes involved in several life-threatening conflicts in China that force him to flee the country and take refuge in South Korea. Meanwhile back in North Korea Yong-su's family situation becomes dire, and his son Jun is taken to a labor camp. Undeterred by their circumstances father and son travel long distances and suffer hardships having faith that they will reunite. -- Minette T. Ferrer

Jiro (Keisuke Koide) is a lonesome college student. He's spending his 20th birthday alone, when suddenly, a beautiful girl (Haruka Ayase) appears and takes a liking to him. The few hours that he spends with her are the most incredible moments of his life and Jiro is lovestruck. But his happiness does not last long since she disappears from his life at the end of this magical night. A year later on his 21st birthday, Jiro runs into her again. She looks the same, but is somewhat different. He soon discovers she is a cyborg from the future, sent back on an important mission that may destroy the world. Kwak Jae-Young (MY SASSY GIRL) does the strong girl protecting meek boy story very well. Think TRAIN MAN, but this time, the girlfriend is a cyborg from the future who looks like Rei from EVANGELION. Throw in influences from Spielberg's oeuvre, from A.I. to the BACK TO THE FUTURE movies; to an otaku, what's not to love about this film? -- Anderson Le

Suave spy Dachimawa Lee teams up with "Bond girls" Yeon-ja and Mary to find a stolen national treasure that contains a list of Korean freedom fighters wanted by imperial authorities. The globetrotting mission becomes complicated when Lee temporarily loses his memory and a Chinese merchant, a quirky Korean vagabond and a Japanese spy get in the way. DACHIMAWA LEE, directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, is a quirky action comedy that mercilessly pokes fun at almost everything related to the genre to which it pretends to belong, resulting in an unpredictable mixture of cheesy parodies, unnerving humor and pseudo action sequences.

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

Katsuhito Ishii, a regular at our festival, is back with his new comedy, MY DARLING OF THE MOUNTAINS. The film follows two blind masseurs, Toku and Foku, as they travel between seaside spas in the North and mountain hot springs in the South. They offer their services and are very much respected by hotel owners and their patrons. Their friendship is tested when they both fall in love with the beautiful and mysterious client Michiho. Both men vie for her affection, but neither can express their feelings. Things get way more complicated when Michiho is considered a prime suspect in thefts occurring at the resort. Will Toku and Foku be able to clear the name of the woman they love or have they fallen for a thief? --Minette T. Ferrer