Spring fest features films from Hawaii and beyond

Japanese comedy “Neko Atsume” (“Kitty Collector”), a whimsical live-action film that’s inspired by a smartphone game, gets its international premiere at the Hawaii International Film Festival’s Spring Showcase, joining 31 more movies from Asia and the Pacific, Europe and more points around the globe, on screen beginning today and running through April 9. See it at 6 p.m. Monday or 3 p.m. April 8.

The 2017 Spring Showcase is the 20th edition of HIFF’s spring festival.

Films from Asia and the Pacific continue to be the central focus of HIFF programming, and the spring fest includes several films from South Korea, including macabre thriller “Bluebeard” (8:30 p.m. April 7, 5:15 p.m. April 8), which gets its North American premiere.

Opening night film “The Prison” is the sole screening at 8 p.m. today; it repeats at 8:15 p.m. Tuesday. The South Korean film, directed by Na Hyeon, is a crime thriller set inside a corrupted maximum security prison, where a gang leader and a former detective who was framed for a crime cross paths.

The Spring Showcase features 32 films and boasts multiple Hawaii premieres, including the U.S.-produced environmental documentary “Chasing Coral,” HIFF’s Closing Night film, screening at 7:30 p.m. on April 9.

Directed by Jeff Orlowski (“Chasing Ice”), “Chasing Coral” had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. Short film “Reefs at Risk” will show with “Chasing Coral.” Filmmakers from both projects will be in attendance at the showcase screening.

“Straight from Sundance” screenings often give Hawaii viewers the opportunity to see festival films before they get to other U.S. cities.

“HIFF Spring Showcase has always been an opportunity for us to be on the forefront of the hottest film festival films and bring them to Hawaii,” said HIFF co-programmer Anderson Le. “‘Straight From Sundance’ is a perfect example of getting these hot films right after their world premieres, just over two months ago in Park City, where Sundance is held.”

The Canadian/Spanish-produced comedy “Colossal” (7:45 p.m. Saturday), starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, is another of these “Straight from Sundance” offerings, along with the Thai/Singapore-produced “Pop Aye” (5:15 p.m. Saturday; 8:15 p.m. Monday), which follows a disenchanted architect and a long-lost elephant on a journey from Bangkok to rural Thailand.

Award-winning Chinese documentary “Plastic China,” set in a community surrounded by mountains of plastic waste collected from Asia, Europe and the U.S., is also a Sundance selection.

“Aside from South Korea, East Asia is strongly represented with major films from Japan and China,” said Anna Page, who along with Le is co-director of programming. “We have some major films including the U.S. premiere of (murder mystery) ‘Rage’ (8:15 p.m. Thursday, 7:45 p.m. April 8) starring Ken Watanabe, and ‘Duckweed’ (5:45 p.m. Wednesday, 5:15 p.m. April 9), a time-travel drama that was the big Lunar New Year title in China.”

HIFF’s ongoing Pacific Showcase, in partnership with Pacific Islanders in Communications, includes the U.S. premiere of New Zealand comedy “Gary of the Pacific” (6 p.m. Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. April 7) and Papua New Guinea-set documentary “The Opposition” (5:30 p.m. Wednesday). Filmmakers will be at the screenings of two Pacific Showcase films showing together, sponsored by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs: “Na Hulu Lehua” and “Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied” (3 p.m. April 9).

Documentary film “Na Hulu Lehua” follows the historic return of an ahu ula (feathered cloak) that Kalaniopuu, alii nui of Hawaii island, had draped over the shoulders of Captain James Cook upon the British captain’s arrival at Kealakekua Bay in 1779. Cook was later killed in a confrontation with Kalaniopuu and the people of Hawaii, but Kalaniopuu’s feathered cape and a mahiole (helmet) were taken back to Europe by Cook’s crew. They had been held at the National Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa.

“Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied,” directed by Dawn Kaniaupio, will show with “Na Hulu Lehua.” The short film describes efforts to induce the state of Hawaii to fulfill commitments to Native Hawaiians for revenues that arise from “ceded” ancestral lands.

The Spring Showcase is also bringing back a classic film, “Tampopo” (3 p.m. Saturday), in a newly remastered version. The classic “ramen Western” from the great director Juzo Itami is one of Japan’s most critically praised films.

Films will be screened at the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18. Get tickets online at hiff.org; in person at the HIFF Box Office inside Dole Cannery, 680 Iwilei Road, Suite 100; or by phone at 447-0577.