(Wednesday, October 27, 2010) -- The Audience Awards, presented by Hawaii News Now, for Favorite Narrative Feature, Documentary and Short, have been determined. Throughout the festival, ballots were distributed for the first screening of every eligible film, 214 in all. The following films were chosen by audience members as their favorites for this year's edition of The Hawaii International Film Festival.

FAVORITE NARRATIVE FEATURE: ONE KINE DAY directed by Chuck Mitsui.

FAVORITE DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: ONE VOICE, directed by Lisette Marie Flanary.

FAVORITE SHORT FILM: MANA I KA LEO POWER OF THE VOICE directed by Ruben Carrillo.

"The status of Hawaii-made films continues to rise," says Anderson Le, HIFF's Director of Programming. Le continues,"It is unprecedented that locally made films has swept all three audience awards and shows that homegrown cinema can compete against its national and international counterparts"

Congratulations to all the films and the audience award winners who participated in the 30th Hawaii International Film Festival.

Festival Information
Established in 1981, the Hawaii International Film Festival, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to the advancement of understanding and cultural exchange among the peoples of Asia, the Pacific and North America through the medium of film. HIFF is the premier international film event in the Pacific and has won the praise of governments, filmmakers, scholars, educators, programmers and film industry leaders throughout the world. For the discovery and exhibition of Asian and Pacific features, documentaries and short films in the nation, it is a primary source. The festival has premiered such movies as ONCE WERE WARRIORS, THE PIANO, SHINE, SHALL WE DANCE, Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN, and CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON. Plus, DEPARTURES, a Japanese film, had its U.S. premiere at HIFF in 2008, won the HIFF Audience Award and then went on to win the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

HIFF's major sponsors include: Regal Entertainment Group, Halekulani Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii, Hawaii Tourism Authority, The Vilcek Foundation, and EuroCinema Hawaii.

Images of the films can be downloaded at http://picasaweb.google.com/hiff2009images/2010HIFFFall?authkey=Gv1sRgCN... For more information please visit our website at www.hiff.org.


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