Elisabeth Moss and Randall Park will be getting a taste of the aloha spirit at the Hawaii International Film Festival. The two actors will be honored at the 39th edition of the fest. Moss is set to receive the Halekulani Career Achievement Award while Park will receive the Halekulani Maverick Award. The two will join previously announced honorees iconic director John Woo and Australian journalist Stan Grant. HIFF takes place November 7-17 in Honolulu, Hawaii.
The Halekulani Career Achievement Award is given to an artist who has reached the career pinnacles very few have achieved via industry awards and accolades and a body of work that is known globally. Moss is in good company, joining past recipients actress Moon So-ri (The Handmaiden, Oasis), Bill Pullman (Independence Day, The Ballad of Lefty Brown), Maggie Cheung (In The Mood For Love). The Emmy-winning actress from The Handmaid’s Tale is also known for her role in the critically acclaimed series Mad Men as well as the miniseries Top of the Lake. She received rave reviews for her role in the Alex Ross Perry film Her Smell, which she also produced. She can next be seen in the Universal/Blumhouse reboot of the classic monster movie The Invisible Man and the upcoming Wes Anderson film, The French Dispatch.
Park will receive the Halekulani Maverick Award, which is given to an international cinema artist who has a unique and eclectic career trajectory, contributing to international cinema and the filmed arts in an innovative way. The Fresh Off the Boat actor joins the ranks of previous recipients Awkwafina (The Farewell, Crazy Rich Asians), actor Tadanobu Asano (Thor, Ichi the Killer) actor/director Simon Baker (Breath, The Mentalist) and Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot). Park also starred in the Netflix rom-com Always Be My Maybe opposite Ali Wong. His previous credits also include The Interview, Veep as well as Ant-Man and the Wasp. He recently launched the production company Imminent Collision with creative partners Michael Golamco and Hieu Ho. He will reprise his role as Jimmy Woo in the upcoming Disney Plus series WandaVision.
HIFF has also added more titles to their lineup, which can be read below.
- The Aeronauts, directed by Tom Harper, chronicles the adventure of a lifetime. In 1862, daredevil balloon pilot Amelia Wren (Felicity Jones) teams up with pioneering meteorologist James Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) to advance human knowledge of the weather and fly higher than anyone in history. While breaking records and advancing scientific discovery, their voyage to the very edge of existence helps the unlikely pair find their place in the world they have left far below them. But they face physical and emotional challenges in the thin air, as the ascent becomes a fight for survival. An Amazon Studios Release.
- Atlantics, directed by Mati Diop, begins along the Atlantic coast, in the suburb of Dakar. Ada, 17, is in love with Souleiman, a young construction worker. But she has been promised to another man. One night, Souleiman and his co-workers leave the country by sea, in hope of a better future. Several days later, a fire ruins Ada’s wedding and a mysterious fever starts to spread. Little does Ada know that Souleiman has returned. Atlantics harnesses fantasy and social relevance in this haunting tale of love.
- Invisible Life first wowed audiences at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, where it made its world premiere. This narrative feature, directed by Karim Aïnouz, takes you to Rio de Janeiro, 1950. To find two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents. Although immersed in a traditional life, each one nourishes a dream: Eurídice of becoming a renowned pianist, Guida of finding true love. In a dramatic turn, they are separated by their father and forced to live apart, not knowing they live in the same city. They take control of their separate destinies, while never giving up hope of finding each other. An Amazon Studios Release.
- The Irishman, a narrative feature from the critically acclaimed director Martin Scorcese, tells the story of Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran – aman with a lot on his mind. The former labor union high official and hitman, learned to kill serving in Italy during the Second World War. He now looks back on his life and the hits that defined his mob career, maintaining connections with the Bufalino crime family. In particular, the part he claims to have played in the disappearance of his life-long friend, Jimmy Hoffa, the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, who mysteriously vanished in late July 1975 at the age of 62.
- From Award winning director Noah Baumbach (The Squid And The Whale), Marriage Story delivers a masterful film that is a beautiful and devastating look at a marriage’s end. Adam Driver plays a stage director and Scarlett Johansson is his actor wife, as they struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal and creative extremes. Laura Dern, Alan Alda, and Ray Liotta co-star but both leads turn in incredible performances, contributing to one of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year.
- The highly anticipated The Report, directed by Scott Z. Burns, features Adam Driver leading an all-star cast, as idealistic Senate staffer Daniel J. Jones who is tasked by his boss to lead an investigation into the CIA’s post 9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program, uncovers shocking secrets. A darkly gripping political drama that is reminiscent of the best in ‘70s-era political dramas unpacks corruption, justice and overwhelming relevance to gripping effect. An Amazon Studios Release
- The Two Popes, directed by Fernando Meirelles (Blindness, The Constant Gardener) brings a historic moment in the Catholic Church to the big screen. In this drama, Cardinal Bergoglio (played by Jonathan Pryce) requests permission to retire in 2012. Instead, Pope Benedict (played by Anthony Hopkins) summons his harshest critic and future successor to the Vatican to reveal a secret that would shake the foundations of the Catholic Church.
- Seberg, directed by Benedict Andrews, features Kristen Stewart stars as the titular French New Wave icon and BREATHLESS star Jean Seberg, specifically in the late ‘60s during her affiliation with the Black Panthers. When the FBI’s surveillance program COINTELPRO begins to target her due to her associations with Hakim Jamal. As she is targeted as a subversive, Seberg chronicles a woman whose life becomes undone over her desire to make a difference. Stewart turns in a bravura performance that captures the spirit of a martyred icon. An Amazon Studios Release.
- 37 Seconds, directed by Hikari, will screen as part of the New American Perspectives and Spotlight on Japan slates. In this live-action narrative feature, Yuma is a talented manga artist with cerebral palsy. She works for a Youtube celebrity who takes all the credit for her amazing creations, treating her as a ghostwriter. Yuma dreams of breaking out on her own, submitting her work to a publisher specializing in adult stories, who tells her she has talent but must gain more “experience.” So Yuma sets out on a journey to explore her physical, creative, and sexual autonomy.
- The Australian Dream, a documentary feature directed by Daniel Gordon, tells the story of football player Adam Goodes and the incident that triggered a national debate that brought to the surface the dark heart of racism beating in contemporary Australia. Powerfully written by former CNN correspondent Stan Grant, The Australian Dream challenges the history of violence and dispossession that divides Australia.
- The feature documentary, Bikram: Yogi, Guri, Predator, directed by Eva Orner, follows yoga instructor Bikram Choudhury who cultivated a celebrity following and built a global fitness empire in the 1970s. By the 2010s, he battled numerous sexual abuse allegations and stories of an aggressive, cult-like training environment. Bikram: Yogi, Guri, Predator shines a light on the women who took him down and explores the contradiction of how this healing discipline could both help and hurt so many.
- Blood Quantum, screening in the HIFF Extreme slate, is an astute and bloody entry into the zombie oeuvre via a First Nations perspective. Directed by Jeff Barnaby, the film is set outside the isolated Mi’gmaq reserve of Red Crow (Atlantic provinces of Canada). In this region the dead are coming back to life, except for its indigenous inhabitants who are immune to the zombie plague. Amid the chaos, a tribal sheriff must protect his son’s pregnant girlfriend, apocalyptic refugees, and a growing group of rabble rousers from the hordes of walking white corpses.
- Bombay Rose is an animated feature film, co-produced, written, edited, designed and directed by Gitanjali Rao. The film follows a flower seller named Kamala who falls in love with a migrant named Salim on the frenetic, gorgeous streets of Bombay. A collaborative work involving 18 months and 60 artists, this film applies traditional hand painting techniques with modern technologies in animation to combine for a saturated, sumptuous visual Bollywood-style experience.
- From Finland comes the dark comedy, Dogs Don’t Wear Pants, directed by J.-P. Valkeapää. A heartbroken cardiac surgeon, is introduced to a dark and extreme world when his daughter gets her tongue pierced. While waiting for her, he stumbles into a room and is attacked by a dominatrix, who mistakes him for her next client. Startled, but feeling a new sensation that kicks him out of his depressed stupor, he wants more, sending him down a rabbit hole. From these lurid beginnings, the film becomes a misfit romance and eventually finds joy in some very dark corners.
- I Lost My Body, directed by directed by Jérémy Clapin, will screen in HIFF’s European Showcase. Soon to be animated cult classic, the film follows a young man who gets his hand sliced off at the start of the story and then spends the rest of it — the hand, that is — trying to reconnect with his body while making sense of his life. A highly original and rather touching account of loss, both physical and emotional, the film wowed audiences with its original storytelling and animation style at Cannes, where it had its world premiere.
- Portrait of a Lady On Fire, from award-winning director Céline Sciamma (Girlhood), is a striking depiction of love and friendship set in pre-revolutionary France. A gifted artist is commissioned to paint the portrait of a young woman who refuses to sit for her portrait, so must study her in secret. However, as the two women become more intimate and the romance between them grows, they must fight against the forces that drive them apart.
- Set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida, and featuring an astonishing ensemble of award-winning actors and breakouts alike, Waves traces the epic emotional journey of a suburban African American family—led by a well-intentioned but domineering father. From acclaimed director Trey Edward Shults, Waves is a heartrending story about the universal capacity for compassion and growth even in the darkest of times.