Oahu

Hawaii International Film Festival

Best film festival in Hawaii

Hawaii International Film Festival

From HIFF: Established in 1981, the Hawaii International Film Festival is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of cultural exchange and media awareness in the Pacific Rim. HIFF is a premier international film event that has won the praise of governments, filmmakers, scholars, educators, programmers and film industry leaders across the globe. HIFF’s programming has two particular mandates: to be a festival of record for emerging films from Asia and the Pacific, and to present the top festival films from around the world, annually screening films from over 45 countries. HIFF also presents content and panels in the fields of film and music, and mobile entertainment and gaming. These transmedia programs reflect HIFF’s commitment to exhibiting innovative creative content coming from the Asia Pacific Rim.


Rewind back to 2011, when HIFF introduced critically acclaimed and Hawaii-filmed The Descendents. The audience was delighted, noting that a Hollywood film finally gave the world a look at the other side of the islands – one filled with cloudy skies and family units with real problems that don’t frolic happily in the surf everyday. This film represents the kind (or da kine) of gems you’ll find at HIFF.

Not that the Hawaii International Film Festival doesn’t also paint the azure toned half of paradise, it does, and that’s the point. The Hawaii International Film Festival introduces old and new filmmakers and their various takes on film that touch on every dimension of Hawaii and abroad. The setting in Oahu simply takes the film festival genre and places it against a culturally richer background that separates the HIFF from Utah and Toronto – to name a couple of popular Mainland film festival destinations. If you happen to be in the Gathering Place be sure to take in one or two of the movies on tap at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 and enjoy the panels, workshops, parties, filmmaker meet and greets, and other special events at the internationally renowned Hawaii International Film Festival.