Baby The Stars Shine Bright Is Born

Aloha! Welcome to Baby The Stars Shine Bright! My name is Jason. I work at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival as a programming assistant. The LVHIFF is an organization that exists to promote the advancement of understanding and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North America through the medium of film. To learn more about this organization, please visit our website at http://www.hiff.org/

Here are a few synopses I wrote that were published in this year's gorgeous LVHIFF Program Book:


NA KAMALEI: MEN OF HULA
Dir: Lisette Marie Flanary
Robert Cazimero is the kumu hula for Na Kamalei (“the lei of children”) – Hawaii’s only hula academy strictly for men. He has mentored male students for 30 years, bringing the masculine aspect back to hula and overcoming gender stereotypes. In NA KAMALEI, the role of men in hula is explored through interviews with Cazimero and his contemporaries. They discuss Hawaiian man’s disconnection with the hula (that can be traced back to American Protestant missionaries who denounced the hula as a heathen dance) and the renaissance of the 1970s when men overcame stereotypes to live the proverb “dare to hula, leave your shame at home.” Personal stories from Cazimero’s students – who range in age from 18 to 55 - are amusing, emotional, and demonstrate the lasting positive impact the hula has on the lives of Hawaiian men. Director Lisette Marie Flanary’s documentary is fortuitously timed. Her cameras capture Cazimero on his 30th anniversary of teaching, as he prepares his students for the Merrie Monarch Festival – the most prestigious hula competition in the world – and follows him to the exciting, pahu-pounding finale where his students dance not to win, but to continue a proud legacy of Hawaiian men.


MADE OF MUSIC: THE STORY OF JOHN CRUZ
Dir: Leslie Truglio
Islanders who crank up the radio on the drive to work know these John Cruz lyrics by heart: “On the island, we do it island
style, from the mountain to the ocean, from the windward to leeward side.” That is, of course, the unofficial anthem for many
island residents. What most of us may not identify with is the actual man behind the music. Director Leslie Truglio goes beyond those formulaic made-for-television documentaries on VH1. Cruz’s life story has its share of downward spirals to be sure, however, MADE OF MUSIC explores issues locals folks can really identify with. Cruz offers genuine and thought provoking anecdotes, from hanabata days in Palolo Valley to twelve years of struggle on the East Coast to ultimately achieving personal and professional equilibrium back in the islands he loves. Instead of emphasizing his status as a two-time Na Hoku Hanohano award winner or that he’s the first musician ever to receive a Grammy award for Hawaiian music, Truglio explores the soulful inspiration behind the personal style that Cruz refers to as “acoustic soul.” The film features rare concert footage and unexpected interviews with Jack Johnson, Jackson Browne and Kelly Slater. The Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival is honored to host the world premiere of MADE OF MUSIC.



APT
Dir: Ahn Byeong-ki
If there's one thing we should have learned from the animated horror MONSTER HOUSE, it's this: you're only asking for suffering when you peep at the creepy old man across the street. If that movie made you afraid to live across from a haunted house, Ahn Byeong-ki's APT will make you want to move out of the city! Sejin (Ko So-young, DOUBLE AGENT) is a young woman who moves into a high-rise apartment in Seoul. It's a quiet old place so she amuses herself by watching the apartments across from her balcony. Eventually she discovers something unusual. Every night at 9:56 p.m., the lights mysteriously flicker on and off but none of the residents seem to notice. Somehow, each of these blackouts results in a gruesome death. Sejin investigates the spine-chilling connection and finds there is no turning back...This terrifying tale is based on a comic by Kang Pool.



Nightmare Detective
Dir: Tsukamoto Shinya
A supernatural thriller by director Shinya Tsukamoto. Keiko Kirishima is a highly skilled detective baffled by the mysterious deaths of two people who died shortly after dialing 0 on their cellular phones. Forget Hideo Nakata's RINGU and Takashi Miike's ONE MISSED CALL or the myriad knockoffs these films have spawned. Tsukamoto's film offers a brilliant twist on the worn-out dead-meat-in-7-days premise. In Tsukamoto's film, the protagonists get proactive and send in their own spook - the Nightmare Detective! After all, why loaf around until the gruesome end when you can dive into the grisly nightmare and get the answers yourself? Then again, what happens when even a supernatural detective can't help? In that case, it may be time to dial 0 yourself... Singer-songwriter and J-pop sensation hitomi (her nom de plume really is lowercase and minus the family name) plays Detective Keiko. Ryuhei Matsuda (GOHATTO, LVHIFF 2000) plays the paranormal P.I.

Silk
Dir: Su Chao-pin
Director Su Chao-bin takes a deep spiritual route in this supernatural thriller. A scientist named Hashimoto (Yosuke Eguchi), seeks immortality by researching the dead. One day, his team captures the energy of a ghost child using a new anti-gravitational device called the Menger Sponge. The child, isolated in an empty Taipei flat, seems to be saying something, but his lips are mouthing words that no one understands. Hashimoto believes the child has the answers to life after death so he enlists the help of Ye Chi-Tung (Chang Chen from CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, LVHIFF 2000), a police sharpshooter who can read lips. When the ghost reveals nothing about the afterlife, the cop frantically follows clues that will lead him to the terrifying answers behind the child's death. SILK, which had its world premiere in Cannes this year, is an inventive, modern sci-fi look at Asian spiritualism and the paranormal.


Lump of Sugar
Dir: Lee Hwan-Gyeong
Has overindulgence in Korean gangster and horror films left you frazzled? Perhaps the cure is a...LUMP OF SUGAR! This heartwarming tale stars Lim Soo-jung (SAD MOVIE, A TALE OF TWO SISTERS) as Si-eun, a young woman who dreams of becoming a jockey like her late mother (who died in a racing accident). Young Si-eun adopts an orphaned pony and names it Chundung – Korean for "thunder." All is well until the day her father – fearing Si-eun will suffer the same tragedy as her mother – sells Chundung without saying a word. Years later, Si-eun becomes a jockey despite her father's feelings (and the gender discrimination she encounters). One day in the city streets, she comes across a familiar horse pulling a wagon. Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be her beloved horse Chundung! What follows is inspiring, uplifting and sure to please anyone who enjoyed NATIONAL VELVET!


Marrying the Mafia 3: Rebirth of the Family
Dir: Jeong Yong-ki
Mrs. Hong and her boys are back! In the third installment of this ultra-successful MAFIA franchise, In-Jae, Mrs. Hong's eldest son, and his gorgeous lawyer-wife Jin-Kyoung are happily married. The family has gone legit and Mrs. Hong's food company is growing like gangbusters. Life is good, but can it really last? As most hallyu fans know, happiness is fleeting in Korean comedies. Just when these gangsters think they’re out, they pull 'em back in! This time around, the enemy is Myoung-Phil, a disgraced former prosecutor who was jailed for corruption and whose sole purpose is to the Jang family. What the legal weasel doesn't know is that Mama Jang has family members all over the country and like THE WARRIORS, they're ready to come out and play. Can Mama Jang and the boys overcome their latest enemy and restore the family's glory?


Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles
Dir: Tommy Yune, Dong-Wook Lee
Praise Harmony Gold, it’s finally here! The animated sequel to the Robotech TV series of 1985. Back in the day – long before it was fashionable for gaijin to become anime addicts – legions of children in Hawaii and across the U.S. raced home after school to see Rick Hunter charge into battle in a fully-loaded Veritech that transformed from fighter to guardian to battloid mode! Kids didn’t even know what anime was or that Robotech was actually three completely unrelated Japanese series jammed into one franchise. Fast forward twenty-one years later and fans are still ravenous for a sequel to the series. This is precisely why the LVHIFF is proud to present THE SHADOW CHRONICLES, a direct continuation to the unresolved conclusion of the third series (The New Generation). This long-awaited follow-up takes us to 2044 AD where Scott Bernard and the Robotech Expeditionary Force have fought hard to end the decades-long struggle the alien race known as the Invid. Now that war is over and the people of Earth have been liberated, it’s time to send out an expedition to find Admiral Rick Hunter. However, in the search for the admiral’s missing fleet, a new mystery unfolds that threatens to wipe out mankind for good!Hard-core Robotech fans should take note. Several of the original voice actors have reprised their roles for characters including Rick Hunter, Scott Bernard and Vince Grant and the Invid Regess. The cast even includes Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). That’s enough to make even fans in their 30s giddy with excitement! And why not? The Robotech series was part of the genesis of American anime fandom as we know it today. So, dust off your Lynn Minmei doll – you know you have it - Robotech is back!