HIFF brings five immigrant filmmakers into New American Perspectives
The Hawaii International Film Festival is presenting five immigrant filmmakers through New American Perspectives, its programme with the Vilcek Foundation. Liz Sargent’s Take Me Home draws on her family’s experience of disability and caregiving, with her sister Anna in the lead. Screenings and conversations connect the filmmakers’ personal histories with their work, including an October 26 panel in Honolulu.
Arts··Midday
Five filmmakers join the programme
New American Perspectives brings immigrant filmmakers and the experiences behind their work to the Hawaii International Film Festival. This year’s programme features five artists, including Liz Sargent, Henry Ian Cusick, Alex Tarrant, Michelle Zhou and featured filmmaker Ke Huy Quan. Hawaii News Now interviewed Sargent and the Vilcek Foundation’s Liz Boylan about the programme. The foundation’s own announcement also sets out the five-person cohort and its screenings and discussions. The partnership began in 2007. Boylan said it has brought 95 filmmakers from 33 countries to the festival over nearly two decades, presenting 88 feature films during that collaboration. The foundation was established in 2000 to recognize immigrant contributions to arts and sciences.[1], [2]
Take Me Home draws on family experience
Sargent’s Take Me Home places her sister Anna at the centre of a fictional story filmed in their parents’ house. The Korean American adoptee described Anna as playing a version of herself. The film concerns a transition in family care, as the person receiving care must confront an uncertain future when those roles reverse. Sargent, whose background includes choreography, works with adoption, disability and family relationships. She emphasized that Take Me Home is fiction, rather than a documentary about her sister. Its Sunday afternoon screening was scheduled at Kahala Theatre, with a conversation allowing the filmmaker to discuss how those personal experiences informed the work.[1]
Conversations accompany the screenings
The other participating works span different settings and filmmaking experiences. Cusick appears with Los Vampires; Tarrant participates through Tearepa Kahi’s Sgt. Haane; and Zhou brings Big Little Things. Quan’s events include a conversation about his memoir Never Say Die and a presentation of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Screenings are accompanied by question-and-answer sessions. Cusick, Sargent, Tarrant and Zhou are also scheduled to meet at Honolulu Civil Beat’s offices on October 26 Boylan said that panel is free and open to the public with advance registration. Its discussion gives the artists another setting to talk about their careers alongside their films.[1], [2]
