HIFF Southeast Asia Showcase
In this year’s winter showcase, HIFF is featuring four Southeast Asian films from Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines. Continue reading for synopses and showtimes. All movies will be screened on Oahu at the Regal Dole Cannery.
HIFF dates:
- Oʻahu: November 7-17
- Hawaiʻi Island, Kauaʻi, and Maui: November 21-24
Goodbye Mother (Thưa Mẹ Con Đi)
Dir: Dinh Le Minh Trinh
Vietnam
2019 / 106 min / Vietnamese w/English subtitles
A young man returns home to discover his family is unraveling. His mother hopes he will stay, but she wonders about the handsome overseas man he brought home with him.
Screenings
- Saturday, November 9, 17:30 – 19:36 — Filmmaker in Attendance
- Thursday, November 14, 15:30 – 17:36
Mina-Anud
Dir: Kerwin Go
Philippines
2019 / 145 min / Tagalog w/English subtitles
When three tons of cocaine wash ashore in a peaceful seaside community in the Philippines, two down-on-their-luck surfers are faced with a dilemma: turn it over to the authorities or get lured by easy money?
Screenings
- Thursday, November 14, 19:45 – 22:30 — Filmmaker in Attendance
- Saturday, November 16, 11:15 – 14:00 — Filmmaker in Attendance
The Long Walk (Bor Mi Van Chark)
Dir: Mattie Do
Laos, Spain, Singapore
2019 / 116 min / Lao w/English subtitles
An old hermit walks the dusty country roads in Laos in the company of a silent ghost, who perished in a car accident years before, and is forever stuck in the limbo of the real world. When he discovers that his spectral companion can transport him back in time prior to his mother dying from tuberculosis, he trespasses into his own past to convince boy-self to forestall his mother’s suffering.
Screenings
- Wednesday, November 13, 19:00 – 21:16 — Filmmaker in Attendance
- Friday, November 15, 15:00 – 17:16 — Filmmaker in Attendance
Untrue
Dir: Sigrid Andrea Bernardo
Philippines
2019 / 141 min / Tagalog w/English subtitles
Living alone in the country of Georgia, Filipina migrant worker Mara falls in love with a fellow countryman named Joachim. Soon however, Joachim starts claiming to hear peculiar sounds and see strange visions. Although she begins to fear him, Mara is even more scared of being all alone in a foreign land, and decides to stay. From Joachim’s point of view, however, it seems like Mara is the one going insane. Is someone being UNTRUE? Or is something more malevolent going on?
Screening
- Thursday, November 7, 19:30 – 21:56