Hawaii delights with a 10-day international film extravaganza

by Brenda Yun on

For ten glorious days (which began yesterday), Hawaii will host its international film festival until October 25. The film line-up is chock full of Asian films as well as other international cinema delights.

This year’s centerpiece films on opening, mid-festival, and closing nights demonstrate the diverse films that make up this year’s deep line-up. The one I’d like to see is “Red Cliff” – a John Woo film that is based on the famous Chinese novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms.” You can watch the Red Cliff trailer below.

The Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) started as a project of the East-West Center at the University of Hawai`i Manoa campus in Honolulu in 1981. Back then, only seven films were screened from six countries to an audience of 5,000. Today, HIFF is the premiere cinematic event in the Pacific that has had more than one dozen screening sites on six Hawaiian Islands and draws an audience of 80,000 or more from around the state, the nation and throughout the world.
HIFF is unique in discovering features, documentaries and shorts from Asia made by Asians, films about the Pacific made by Pacific Islanders, and films made by Hawai`i filmmakers that present Hawai`i in a culturally accurate way. The film festival also conducts seminars, workshops, special award presentation receptions with top Asian, Pacific and North American filmmakers.

Most of the films will be playing at the Dole Cannery Theaters in downtown Honolulu. For a complete film listing or to order tickets in advance, visit the HIFF website.

Get out and go: Events around the world (October 15-18)

by Brenda Yun on

Happy Hump Day, Gadling’ers! It’s time to look at the festivals and events happening around the world, and this week has a particularly international selection of happenings. If you’re close and have time, then you have no excuse to get out and go!

  • Islamabad – The Hot Air Ballooning Competition in Pakistan begins this Thursday, October 15 and ends on the 18th.
  • Malawi – Lake of Stars: This special music festival takes place on the shores of Lake Malawi. The festival begins on Thursday, October 15 and lasts through the 18th.
  • New Zealand – Wanakafest 2009: The Wanakafest, a fun festival that includes urban downhill biking, bike back flips, snowboard rail jam, music, waterfront events, a fashion show, a food and wine fair and a street parade among other things begins this Thursday, October 15 and ends on the 18th.
  • Pittsburgh – International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival: Pittsburgh’s an annual celebration of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered writers, directors, actors and their work begins this Friday, October 16, and continues until October 25th.
  • Delhi – Diwalli, the Festival of Lights, will be held this Saturday, October 17. It is a colorful celebration of the victory of the good within people over evil. Traditionally people give gifts to family, friends and employees, making Delhi a bustling marketplace.
  • Shanghai – The 10th Annual China Shanghai International Arts Festival begins this Sunday, October 18 and runs until the 23rd. The performing arts fair, a major sector of the festival, is the largest and most effective performing arts market of its kind in China.
  • Sao Paolo – Grande Premio do Brasil: Brazil’s featured Formula 1 car race will be held this Sunday, October 18 at 2 p.m.

If you make it to one of these events, let us know how it was, or if you know of an even that’s coming up, please let us here at Gadling know and we’ll be sure to include it in the next “Get out and go” round-up.

‘Til next week, have a great weekend — the first of October!

Get out and go: Events around the world (October 8-11)

by Brenda Yun on

It’s time to look at the festivals and events happening around the world, and this week has a particularly international selection of happenings. If you’re close and have time, then you have no excuse to get out and go!

  • Albuquerque – The 38th Annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off earlier this week and runs through October 11. It is the most photographed event on earth, as more than 700 colorful balloons from all over the world fly high in New Mexico’s sky.
  • Amsterdam – ‘Van Gogh’s letters’ exhibition opens on October 9 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. The exhibition Van Gogh’s letters offers a fascinating view of Van Gogh as letter-writer and artist.
  • Melbourne – Melbourne International Arts Festival begins October 9. The festival is a series of cultural events by Australian and International artists and will continue through October 25.
  • Washington D.C. – At the Green Festivals this weekend, enjoy more green business lectures, how-to workshops, green films, yoga classes, organic beer, organic cuisine and live music .

If you make it to one of these events, let us know how it was, or if you know of an even that’s coming up, please let us here at Gadling know and we’ll be sure to include it in the next “Get out and go” round-up.

‘Til next week, have a great weekend!

Early fall events in Carmel

by Brenda Yun on

My good friend who used to live and work in Carmel took me on a stroll through the historic town earlier this month and she found herself nostalgic. I let her relive her days working in the art gallery that has since been taken over by yet another, different gallery, and her evenings full of meeting military men who attended school nearby in Marina. If that wasn’t enough, we had coffee at her old haunt, where she nearly broke down into tears remembering the smell of the place.

It seems if you’ve been in Carmel long enough it sticks with you long after you leave. Here are a few fall events that will make you want to stay in Carmel for longer – or perhaps for life.

Harvest Carmel – September 26-27: A 2-day event celebrating agriculture, viticulture, cheese, and good times; 50 chefs, more than 100 wineries, organic gardening seminars, barbecue seminars, wine tastings, cheese tastings, kid’s interactive kitchen, live music. www.harvestcarmel.com

21st Annual Taste of Carmel – October 1: A celebration of food and wine in the Courtyard of the Mission; tickets are $85. www.tasteofcarmel.com ; #831-624.2522

Carmel Art and Film Festival – October 8-11: Total arts immersion, four days filled with world-class film, music, fine art, and photography, photography, art and film lectures throughout the festival, a two-day art fair in Devendorf Park, a juried photography exhibition at the Marjorie Evans Gallery at the Sunset Cultural Arts Center, films curated by John Cooper (the Director of the Sundance Festival) http://www.carmelartandfilm.com

Museum Junkie: Manchester exhibit on life as a POW

by Sean McLachlan on

A fascinating exhibit on life as a POW has opened at The Imperial War Museum North in Manchester, England.

The exhibition, called “Captured: The Extraordinary Life of Prisoners of War”, combines pictures, artifacts, and real-life anecdotes to give a glimpse into the experiences of prisoners of war from all armies during the Second World War (1939-45). It also features the only known film of German POWs in Britain.

While the exhibition focuses on the daily endurance test POWs had to live through, it also examines some of the famous escapes from notorious German prisons such as Colditz. This castle near Dresden housed Allied POWs who had tried to escape from other prisons. The Nazis considered it impossible to escape from. Several POWs saw it as a challenge and proved the Nazis wrong.

This museum junkie has been to many of The Imperial War Museum’s special exhibitions and has always been impressed. They’re always easy to follow and full of surprises and leave you knowing a lot more than when you arrived. At the permanent exhibition in the museum’s London branch, there’s a recording of an interview with a British soldier who survived a Japanese POW camp. He got terrible sores on his legs and didn’t have any medicine to treat them. Knowing that tea is a disinfectant, he pressed tea bags against the sores. This bit of trivia saved his legs and probably his life.

This latest exhibition is one of a series of events marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War Two. A list of upcoming events at the museum’s five branches is online here,

“Captured: The Extraordinary Life of Prisoners of War” runs until January 3rd, 2010.