UH Manoa students screen films in Shanghai

Seven student films from the UH Mānoa Academy for Creative Media (ACM), including two unique Hawaiʻi-China co-productions, have been selected for showing at the 12th Shanghai International Film Festival from June 13-21.

Five ACM student filmmakers will also travel to China for the festival, and to create short films on location with students from Shanghai University. This exclusive U.S.-China student film co-production is part of the SMART (Student Media Art) Exchange program, partnering the two universities with the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival (HIFF) and the Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF).

"Better City, Better Life," which premiered at the 2008 Hawaiʻi festival, blends three films shot on location in Shanghai. It will be joined at the Shanghai festival by ACM student films "Kleptaholic" by Pablo Paz, "Watch Your Tongue" by Nasser Marghalani, "The Last Delivery" by Robert Omura (who also directed one of the "Better City, Better Life" short films), "Li Hing Mui, Lilikoi and Lychee" by Lauren Cheape, and "Beauty Brawl" by Kevyn Fong.

"Beauty Brawl" was featured in the closing night films of the Rainbow Film Festival. "Li Hing Mui, Lilikoi and Lychee" utilized an ACM-Shanghai University crew as part of the SMART international co-productions.

The seventh film, "Rain," by Thomas Takemoto-Chock, will screen in the prestigious International Student Short Film Competition. It also premiered at HIFF 2008 and won the Best Hawaiian Short award at the Big Island Film Festival.

"Our student films have nearly circumnavigated the globe from L.A. to New York to Athens, Cambodia and China," said Tom Brislin, ACM chair. "With the depth and sensitivity of these original, authentic stories of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, our films always draw a full house in Shanghai."

The SMART Exchange program brings student films and filmmakers from ACM to Shanghai, and from Shanghai University to Honolulu each year as part of the decade-long relationship between the Hawaiʻi and Shanghai International Film Festivals.

For more information, visit the ACM website: http://www.hawaii.edu/acm/.