Hawaii International Film Festival Spring Showcase 2008

The sequel to the smash hit film (the first film also was the Opening Night Film of the 9th HIFF Spring Showcase in 2006)! Spring, 1959 - four months after the events of the first film. The Olympics in Tokyo has officially been announced, and Japan is about to take its first step into a period of high economic growth. Chagawa still loves Hiromi though she has left, and he continues living with Junnosuke. Meanwhile, Norifumi, proprietor of the Suzuki Auto shop on Third Street, dreams of expanding the family business. Japan's best actors populate this charming, nostalgic throwback to a more innocent time, and top-notch production design and special effects recreate post-war Tokyo with verisimilitude. Already a hit In Japan, like its predecessor, don't miss this special North American premiere! Add this to your blog or myspace

View AMERICAN TEEN Trailer on Yahoo! Movies AMERICAN TEEN is the heartbreaking and hilarious Sundance hit that follows the lives of four teenagers - a jock, the popular girl, the artsy girl and the geek - in one small town in Indiana through their senior year of high school. We see the insecurities, the cliques, the jealousies, the first loves and heartbreaks, and the struggle to make profound decisions about the future. Filming daily for ten months, filmmaker Nanette Burstein (ON THE ROPES, THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE) developed a deep understanding of her subjects. The result is a film that goes beyond the enduring stereotypes of high school to render complex young people trying to find their way into adulthood. Hannah Bailey is smart and beautiful, but a misfit in her high school. She is a liberal, atheist living in a traditional, Christian, conservative town and dreams of moving to California after graduation. Colin Clemens is the star of the high school basketball team - and in Indiana, basketball is everything. Colin is under enormoovering a new side of himself. With extraordinary intimacy and a great deal of humor, AMERICAN TEEN captures the pressures of growing up - pressures that come from one's peers, one's parents, and not least, oneself. Add this to your blog or myspace

The Chinese SAVING PRIVATE RYAN! The year 1948 witnessed the launching of the Huaihai Campaign during the Chinese Civil War. In one of Chinese history's deadliest battles, thousands from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Nationalist Army (KMT) fell in the battle that took place between Xuzhou and Bengdu. It was amid this bloody fight that Captain Guzidi led the Ninth Company infantry unit on a sniper mission. The company is ordered to fight until they hear the assembly call signalling retreat. Years later, a survivor of this deadly battle starts searching for the remains of his fallen comrades and attempt to recognize them as national heroes. The film is inspired by short story "The Law Suit" (literal title), which was written by Yang Jinyuan, based on a true story. From director Feng Xiaogang (THE BANQUET, A WORLD WITHOUT THIEVES). Add this to your blog or myspace

Actress and first-time feature director Nadine Labaki has fashioned a good-hearted film addressing issues rarely seen on Western screens -- the daily concerns and frustrations, the triumphs and failures, and the familial and amorous problems faced by a group of Lebanese woman who gather to swap tales at a Beirut beauty shop. Labaki stars as Layale, mistress of a married man, who now accepts that his promises about leaving his wife are as empty as her heart has become. She seeks solace in shop conversation with Nisrine (Yasmine Al Masri) and Rima (Joanna Moukarzel), the latter coming to the realization that maybe heterosexuality is not for her, and the former preoccupied with a surgical procedure that will make it appear to her fiance that she is still a virgin. Jamale (Gisele Aouad) is having a crisis about aging while seamstress Rose (Sihame Haddad) is finding that caring for her older, disturbed sister is preventing her from fulfilling her on life. Lest this audience favorite at the Cannes Film Festival seem like a soap opera, Labaki also deals with issues related to both the Christian and Muslim religions and how women are viewed by both. In the end, her aim is to create a collective humanist portrait of Lebanese women today and put to rest some of the myths and stereotypes that seem so prevalent in the media these days. -- Vancouver Film Festival

A college student Kae, who dreams of becoming a teacher, discovers a notebook in the house she has just moved in. The notebook turns out to be the diary of a woman, Mano Ibuki, who had just started teaching in primary school. Kae becomes absorbed by the woman's pure heart, reading about her life and love. She falls for a painter, Ishitobi, while working at her part time job. As time passes, she finds out an unexpected sad truth. As expected of a melodrama with a dazzling cast and crew list, the film brings the traditional element of pure love and unexpected fate along with the surprise of tragic reversal and desperate moments blended in nicely. An autumn love story that reconstructs the merits of previous Japanese melodramas. --PIFF Add this to your blog or myspace

The accidental death of his father's lover leads Nejat, a college professor, to search for her daughter in Turkey. Ayten, a young woman, fleeing the Turkish police finds herself alone and penniless in Germany until she befriends and eventually becomes the lover of Lotte, a college student. The lives of the characters intertwine and the story culminates into a heartwrenching end, when fate has them converging in Turkey. Winning the best screenplay awards in Cannes and the European Film Awards, THE EDGE OF HEAVEN has critics and audiences alike singing its praises. Add this to your blog or myspace

The 2004 Athens Olympics are approaching and Korea is looking for a gold medal in every sport. Korean women in particular have done well in most areas except for the ignored and looked down upon sport of handball. It doesn't look good when the players who show up are women in their thirties and teens. Can this oddball group overcome their personal differences and hardships and somehow come together as a team? Based on true events, this blockbuster feel good movie is one not to miss. Add this to your blog or myspace

A one-horse town in central Japan does not look like the kind of place where passions would flare. Nonetheless, set to the backdrop of the traditional, rustic scenery, a drama of love and hate plays out reflecting the surrealistic world of Japanese manga horror comics. The eccentric and selfish Sumika, who lives in Tokyo and wants to be an actress, arrives for the funeral of her parents, who have tragically died. Her younger sister Kiyomi, a talented cartoonist, is overtly afraid of her, and her stepbrother, Shinji, who has married an orphan named Machiko, is nervous and guarded around her. Each member of this dysfunctional family tries to find the meaning of life and love in their own way - but will they succeed? Shades of black humour mingle in the dialogues and actions of the individual characters; the drama of the past and conflicts of the present come to life in the comic caricatures, uncovering a bloody family strife and a collision of self-love. --KVIFF Add this to your blog or myspace

A love-hate relationship quickly develops between sweet country girl Soyo and city boy Hiromi. What starts out as disdain for one another turns into sincere affection. Soon Soyo and Hiromi are inseparable, but the time comes when they must decide what high school to attend. Will Hiromi return to Tokyo or stay with Soyo? Acclaimed director Yamashita Nobuhiro returns with the 2007 youth romance A GENTLE BREEZE IN THE VILLAGE. Yamashita again takes on a subtle coming-of-age tale, but unlike the spunky wannabe rockers of Linda Linda Linda, the teens in Tennen Kokekko are far removed from the city and ordinary school life. Based on a popular Kuramochi Fusako manga, the film follows a small group of students in a remote rural town, casting a gentle, observant eye on their daily lives and growing pains. Embracing the innocence and insecurities of youth with simplicity, clarity, and sensitivity, A GENTLE BREEZE IN THE VILLAGE is a small, genuine, and gracefully rendered film. Add this to your blog or myspace