{"id":205287,"date":"2024-10-21T13:26:32","date_gmt":"2024-10-21T23:26:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=205287"},"modified":"2024-10-21T15:42:33","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T01:42:33","slug":"students-alumni-shine-at-hiff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2024\/10\/21\/students-alumni-shine-at-hiff\/","title":{"rendered":"Cinematic arts students, alumni shine at 44th HIFF<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Alika Tengan, 2nd from right, at HIFF<\/abbr>44 awards gala.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The School of Cinematic Arts<\/a> (SCA<\/abbr>) at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa is celebrating the impressive achievements of its faculty, alumni, and students at the 44th Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> International Film Festival<\/a> (HIFF<\/abbr>). This year, their creative works earned prestigious awards, nominations, and widespread recognition, highlighting UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa’s influence on Â鶹´«Ã½’s<\/span> cinematic landscape.<\/p>\n

“The faculty of SCA<\/abbr> have done an amazing job throughout the years mentoring these talented students, so it is quite gratifying to see the success of the alumni and the level of talent in the upcoming group of students and recent graduates,” said Christine Acham, a professor and chair at SCA<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

SCA<\/abbr> alumni awards<\/h2>\n

SCA<\/abbr> alumnus Alika Tengan made a remarkable impact at HIFF<\/abbr>44 with his feature film Molokaʻi<\/span> Bound<\/em>, winning the coveted Made In Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> award for Best Narrative Feature. Tengan\u2019s work, which explores themes of family and redemption, also earned him the prestigious Kau Ka Hōkū award for Best Emerging Filmmaker.<\/p>\n

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From left, Erin Lau and HIFF<\/abbr> Executive Director Beckie Stocchetti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SCA<\/abbr> alumna Erin Lau was also honored with the Made In Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> award for Best Documentary Feature for producing the powerful film Standing Above the Clouds<\/em>. The documentary captures the resilience of Native Hawaiian women fighting to protect Maunakea.<\/p>\n

SCA<\/abbr> alumni Arsenio Salvante also earned a nomination for HIFF<\/abbr>\u2019s Made in Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Best Short for his film Victoria<\/em>. The 12-minute Korean drama showcases a woman\u2019s journey back home to Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> to sell her late-father’s home. The film was co-written by SCA<\/abbr> alumna Keana Alea, with fellow alumnus Vincent Bercasio as director of photography.<\/p>\n

SCA<\/abbr> alumnus Alexander Bocchieri also directed feature length documentary Shaka and SCA<\/abbr> alumna Shaneika Aguilar directed a segment of Real W\u0101hine of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span><\/em> (season 5) which also premiered at the festival.<\/p>\n

Students make their mark<\/h2>\n
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Alexander Cleary, middle, receiving the HIFF<\/abbr> Student Filmmaker award.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n
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From left, Josiah Castillo and Steven Loya Montoya<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n

SCA<\/abbr> student Alexander Cleary earned the HIFF<\/abbr>xBMW<\/abbr> Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Driven Student Filmmaker Award for his short film Stitches<\/em>, securing a $3,000 cash scholarship.<\/p>\n

Two more students, Steven Loya-Montoya and Josiah Castillo, received honorable mentions for their films Where Do Butterflies Go When They Die?<\/em> and Anxious<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In total, seven short films from SCA<\/abbr> were selected for HIFF<\/abbr>\u2019s University Showcase: Anxious<\/em> (Castillo), Ikiryo<\/em> (Ty Everheart), James<\/em> (Anne Di Martino), Once in a Life Time<\/em> (Rickey Brunty), Stitches<\/em> (Cleary), The ʻĀina<\/span> Within<\/em> (Marcus Goh) and Where Do Butterflies Go When They Die?<\/em> (Loya-Montoya).<\/p>\n

Faculty excellence<\/h2>\n

SCA<\/abbr> Professor Vilsoni Hereniko’s short film Woven<\/em> made its world premiere at HIFF<\/abbr> and was nominated for the Made In Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> award for Best Short.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

School of Cinematic Arts students, faculty and alumni earned awards and nominations at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> International Film Festival. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[679,549,598,1623,660],"class_list":["post-205287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-alumni-recognition","tag-creative-media","tag-faculty-recognition","tag-school-of-cinematic-arts","tag-student-recognition","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205287"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205331,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205287\/revisions\/205331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}