The Hawaii International Film Festival to showcase two Oscar-nominated features

CORRECTION: As of March 3, HIFF will showcase two Oscar nominated films, not four.

HONOLULU—The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) announced two of the first four films confirmed to screen at the 13th Annual HIFF Spring Showcase, from April 16 through 22, have been nominated for Academy Awards.

Ajami, a film from Israel, was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film and the Most Dangerous Man in America were nominated for Best Documentary Film. The two other confirmed HIFF films, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and A Good Rain Knows, come from Sweden and South Korea. Oscar winners will be announced Sunday, March 7.

The 2010 Spring Showcase is being held from April 16 to 22 at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters.

Tickets go on sale for HIFF Ohana members on Monday, April 5 and to the general public on Wednesday, April 7.

General tickets for the public are available for $12, $10 for seniors, students and military. HIFF Ohana members can purchase tickets for $8. The tickets can be purchase at the HIFF box office located at 650 Iwilei Rd, Suite 100, across from the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Cinemas, online at www.hiff.org or by phone at (808) 792-1577.

FILM SYNOPSES:

AJAMI
Hawaii Premiere

Essential viewing for anyone engaged in the ongoing drama of the Middle East, AJAMI is a brave, apolitical look at Jews and Arabs in Jaffa’s multi-ethnic Ajami neighborhood - a searing debut by Israeli and Palestinian co-directors, whose balanced perspective and use of non-professional local actors lend a palpable authenticity to a complex, cross-cultural drama. Shakespearian in its scope and themes - revenge, loyalty, hope and despair - the film draws us into the lives of two brothers fearing assassination; a young Palestinian refugee working illegally to cover his mother’s medical expenses; an Israeli woman and her affluent Palestinian boyfriend dreaming of building a life together; and a Jewish cop obsessed with finding his missing brother. Through this dramatic collision of different worlds, we witness the cultural and religious tensions simmering beneath the surface and the tragic consequences of enemies living as neighbors. Nominated for this year’s Oscar Award for Best Foreign Film, HIFF is proud to present AJAMI.

Director: Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani
Cast: Shahir Kabaha, Ibrahim Frege, Scandar Copti, Eran Naim, Fouad Habash, Youssef Sahwani, Ranin Karim, Elias Sabah, Hilal Kabob
Israel, Germany 2009 | Arabic, Hebrew w/ English subtitles | 120 min.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
MAN SOM HATAR KVINNOR
Hawaii Premiere

Forty years ago, Harriet Vanger disappeared from a family gathering on the island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger clan. Her body was never found, yet her beloved uncle is convinced it was murder and that the killer is a member of his own tightly knit, but dysfunctional, family. He employs disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist) and the tattooed and troubled but resourceful computer hacker Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace) to investigate. When the pair link Harriet’s disappearance to a number of grotesque murders from almost forty years ago, they begin to unravel a dark and appalling family history. But the Vangers are a secretive clan, and Blomkvist and Salander are about to find out just how far they are prepared to go to protect themselves.

Author Stieg Larsson, who died suddenly in 2004, left behind three unpublished novels, known as the “Millennium” trilogy, which have become a global sensation, elevating Larsson to the world’s second best-selling author last year (behind “The Kite Runners” by Khaled Hosseini). “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” is one of the decade’s major literary success stories, selling more than 8,000,000 copies worldwide and the film adaptation is the highest grossing Swedish film in history and 2009’s highest-grossing film in Europe.

Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Cast: Michael Nyqvist, Noomi Rapace, Lena Endre, Sven-Bertil Taube, Peter Haber, Peter Andersson, Marika Lagercrantz, Ingvar Hirdwall, Bjorn Granath
Sweden2009 | Swedish w/ English subtitles | 152 min.

A GOOD RAIN KNOWS
HO WOO SHI JUL
Hawaii Premiere

Spring rain, bamboo groves, Chinese poetry and stinky noodles are the piquant ingredients that season a pair of lovers’ surprise reunion in A GOOD RAIN KNOWS. Hur Jin-ho’s latest film set in Sichuan marks the first time he has shot outside Korea.

Korean executive Park Dong-ho (Jung Woo-sung, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE WEIRD HIFF 2007) goes to Sichuan for a business meeting. While strolling through a park dedicated to Tang Dynasty poet Du Fu, he runs into college alumna May (Gao). They enjoy a few days together sharing poetry and local food in spite of the hilarious interceptions of his gooseberry colleague Nam. The lovers’ courtship is conducted in the slow, slow, quick rhythm of a social dance. They reminisce, test the waters, flirt, lunge into passionate expression, and hold back again. Toward the end, one finds out May has her reasons for blowing hot and cold towards Park’s advances, and their precious last day together is filled with the enchanting, heart-pounding feelings of first love. Just like a good rain, will this love also soon pass, or this time, is it for real?

Director: Hur Jin-ho
Cast: Jung Woo-sung, Gao Yuanyuan
South Korea, China 2009 | English, Korean, Mandarin w/ English subtitles | 102 min.

THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
Hawaii Premiere

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, concludes that the war is based on decades of lies and leaks 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The New York Times, making headlines around the world. Hailed as a hero, vilified as a traitor, and ostracized by even his closest colleagues, Ellsberg risks life in prison to stop a war he helped plan.

This is the riveting story of one man’s profound crisis of conscience that shook a nation, its courts, its free press and its presidency to the core. It is also an acutely timely and piercing look at the world of government secrecy in wartime as revealed by the ultimate insider. Marked by a landmark Supreme Court battle between America’s greatest newspapers and its president, this political thriller unravels a saga that leads directly to Watergate, Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.

Director: Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
Cast: Patricia Marx Ellsberg, Tom Oliphant, Paul “Pete” McCloskey, Hedrick Smith, Max Frankel, Mike Gravel, John Dean
United States 2009 | 94 min.

The 2010 Hawaii International Film Spring Festival will be held April 16 to 22 at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters and the 30th Annual Hawaii International Film Fall Festival will be held in October 2010.