Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited (PCBL) CEO Natasha Meleisea at the HIFF45 Awards Ceremony at Halekulani Hotel in Honolulu.
By Michelle Curran
Strategic Communications, Pasifika TV
Visionary Pacific storytelling is on full show at this year’s Hawai’i International Film Festival (HIFF45), across the island chain, from Oahu to Moloka’i.
Now in its 45th year, the film festival is currently showing at various locations throughout Hawai’i, until November 16.
As part of the festival, the HIFF45 Awards Ceremony was staged on October 23 at Halekulani Hotel, Honolulu, to acknowledge the high calibre of works included in this year’s programme.
Having attended the event, Pacific Cooperation Broadcasting Limited Chief Executive Officer Natasha Meleisea says she is both incredibly impressed and proud of the content produced by Pacific filmmakers.
“This festival is a testament to both the filmmakers and supporters of the industry,” Natasha says.
“It is a showcase of the creatives working in the region, and the potential of what could be with even more support in place for film and content production.”
A special mention by Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) adjudicators went to the Kanaka Maoli and Pacific creative team behind Chief of War, a series told in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, prime example of what is possible when Pacific storytellers have sovereignty over their narrative.
Meanwhile, the Made in Hawai’i award was a tie between Lahaina Rising – profiling the devastating Lahaina fires which destroyed the Maui township, and Before The Moon Falls, about Samoan poet Sia Figiel’s life before the shocking news she had murdered her close friend.
From L-R: The Sweetshop cofounder and producer Sharlene George, PCBL CEO Natasha Meleisea, International Cultural Arts Network (ICAN) co-founder and producer Angela Laprete, director Kath Akuhata-Brown and Pacific Islands Film Festival (PIFF) founder and executive producer Stacey Young.
There was a vibrant contingent from Aotearoa New Zealand in Honolulu for HIFF45 and the HIFILM Conference which took place from October 24-26, including the producer of Mārama, Sharlene George.
Directed and written by Taratoa Stappard and starring Ariāna Osborne, Sharlene is extremely proud to have produced Mārama, a Māori gothic horror set in 1859 North Yorkshire which made its Hawai’i premiere at HIFF45, after making its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), and AFI Fest 2025.
The film’s stalwart producer, who is of Kuki Aīrani descent, says it is exciting to look at Māori culture in the 1800s from a different perspective, than Māori films which are typically set in Aotearoa New Zealand.
“I’m incredibly proud of it because story is based on lots of different parts of history, of colonisation, and it is presenting this story in a way where the production venues are really high, and costumes are amazing, the acting is amazing…even though this isn’t a true story, it is someone’s true story.”
The film is set to premiere in Aotearoa on February 12, 2026.
Sharlene will continue to work on a slate of mainly Pacific and Māori content with The Sweetshop production company she co-founded.
Also based in Aotearoa, director Kath Akuhata-Brown deservedly took out the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian-Pacific Cinema) Award for Kōkā at the HIFF45 Awards, as she embraced the power of Pacific storytelling.
Kōkā is the first feature film shot entirely in the original dialect of the Ngāti Porou iwi as it follows Māori elder Hamo and local delinquent Jo, who form an unlikely bond on a road trip in a Ford Falcon.
First shown in Aotearoa in June 2025, the HIFF45 screening was its US premiere.
Meanwhile, the Tangata Pai cast, and crew proudly represented Aotearoa at HIFF45 with a Q&A session at the series’ international premiere and speaking on a panel about narrative sovereignty in television at the HIFILM conference.
A panel discussion on navigating Indie cinema’s uncertain path, at the HIFILM Conference.
Hawai’i International Film Festival HIFF45 Awards:
- HIFF45 Halekulani Vision in Film Award: Park Chan-Wook
- HIFF45 Halekulani Maverick Award: Kenji Tanigaki
- HIFF45 Halekulani New Vanguard Award: Yuriyan Retriever
- HIFF Leanne K. Ferrer Trailblazer Award: The Kanaka Maoli and Pacific creative team behind Chief of War (Apple TV+)
- Spotlight on Hong Kong: Hong Kong Filmmaker In Profile: Nina Paw
- Kau Ka Hoku Award: Ky Nam Inn (Vietnam) Director: Leon Le
- Pasifika Award: Remathau: People of the Ocean (Hawai‘i, USA) Director: Daniel H Lin
- Best Short Film: Correct Me If I’m Wrong (China, Germany) – Director: Hao Zhou (Honorable Mention for Bold Directorial Vision in Narrative Storytelling): The Fishbowl Girl (Taiwan) – Director: Hung Yi Wu
- NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian-Pacific Cinema) Award: KoKa (New Zealand, Aotearoa) -Director: Kath Akuhata-Brown
>>Made in Hawaii Awards:
- Made in Hawaii Feature (tie): Lahaina Rising – Director: Matty Schweizter and Before The Moon Falls – Director: Kimberlee Bassford
- Made in Hawai’i Short Film: Dasher – Director: Alexander Bocchieri (Honorable Mention): The Arrangements – Director: Sonny Ganaden
- BMW Hawai‘i Driven Student Filmmaker Award: Winner – Director: Tiffany Liu, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (Honorable Mention): The Remover – Director: Hunter Daru, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa and CLEAN.EXE – Director: Lucas Stevens, Kapi‘iolani CC.
The HIFF Audience Awards for Favourite Narrative Feature, Documentary and Short Film will be announced on November 17, following all neighbour island screenings.
