NZ Filmmakers Honoured at Hawaii International Film Festival

New Zealand Films and Filmmakers Honoured at Hawaii International Film Festival Saturday, 13 October 2018

She Shears and Maui’s Hook will have their international premieres at the 38th Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) in November.

She Shears, directed by Jack Nicol and produced by Ainsley Gardiner and Georgina Conder, follows five female sheep shearers in the gruelling world of competitive sheep shearing. She Shears is the story of passion, purpose and determination and five women for whom shearing is not just a job. She Shears had a world premiere at the New Zealand International Film Festival (NZIFF) and was released in New Zealand cinemas on 11 October by Rialto Distribution.

Directed by Paora Joseph, written by Lani-rain Feltham and produced by Karen Te O Kahurangi Waaka-Tibble, Maui’s Hook blends documentary and drama in following Tama, a young man fuelled by drugs, alcohol and violence, who spirals into anger and despair. As Tama travels the destructive road of no return, he becomes intertwined with five courageous families, each broken by the suicide of a loved one, each in search of healing and forgiveness. Maui’s Hook also had its world premiere at the NZIFF and is currently in release in New Zealand cinemas and on demand community screenings.

Maui’s Hook director Paora Joseph has also been nominated for HIFF’s inaugural Kau Ka Hōkū Award (Emerging Filmmaker Award). The other nominees include new filmmakers from Japan, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Vietnam, China and the USA. In addition, Heperi Mita, director of Merata: How Mum Decolonised the Screen, will be awarded the 2018 Pacific Islanders in Communication Trailblazer Award. Last year’s winner of this award was Taika Waititi.

Jack Nicol, Paora Joseph and Heperi Mita will all attend HIFF. The festival is dedicated to advancing understanding and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North America by presenting films from around the world. Each year, more than 50,000 attendees throughout Hawaii viscerally experience the sounds and images of filmmaking from approximately 45 countries. This cultural exchange of ideas, presented through the powerful medium of film, raises the awareness of our similarities and differences alike.

Past honourees at HIFF have been: Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Justin Lin, Alexander Payne, Samuel L Jackson, Taika Waititi, Kevin Smith, Simon Baker, Bill Pullman, Maggie Cheung, Toni Collette, Tadanobu Asano, Lee Byung-hun, Park Chan-wook, John Sayles, Ken Watanabe.

The award ceremony will be held in the ballroom of Honolulu’s Halekulani Hotel on 16 November. For screening details for both Maui’s Hook and She Shears, please visit the festival’s website.

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