Short Films
Browse every short film and find the programme it screens in.
Shorts Before Features
These shorts screen ahead of a feature — one ticket covers both.
KŪKULU
Follows Kānaka ʻŌiwi cultural practitioners Aliah Irvine and Kēhau Kapuaʻa, working in the male-dominated practice of hale building and their efforts to restore cultural spaces nearly lost to colonial erasure.
Plays With:
LAHAINA: VOICES OF CHANGE w/ KŪKULU →
WHAT WE CALL HOME
On the outskirts of paradise, a family grows up in a self-governed houseless community on the island of Oʻahu. As the looming threat of government removal draws closer, memories of the community’s past intertwine with an uncertain future. A long-time village resident, a boy on the precipice of adolescence, his carefree younger sister, and their father, the leader of the village, each come to understand what home means in their own way.
Plays With:
NIU FOREVER w/ WHAT WE CALL HOME →THE BADDEST SPEECHWRITER OF ALL + MINK!
1 film in this program
Experimental Shorts
9 films in this program
THE 7TH MOON
While creating a storybook on the ancient Filipino myth of Bakunawa and the Seven Moons, an artist trapped in an abusive relationship begins to see his own life reflected in the story he is telling. Through the seventh moon, the artist recognizes the same cycle of control, longing, and escape within his own relationship, blurring the line between myth and reality.
AMATEUR IN THE MOON
Hayao Yoshikawa (1890-1959), pioneer of amateur cinema in Asia, authored over 160 books to spread his love for moving images during the 1930s. Years later, he rediscovered a forgotten dream from his youth: to create a sci- fi set on the Moon. Inspired by Fritz Lang''s ''Woman in the Moon,'' the journey became more than the pursuit of a lost project, it was a return to the spirit of amateur cinema itself.
ANGEL MAKER
A young woman uncovers the true nature of her existence when she discovers a mysterious flash drive in her backyard. Compelled to watch the footage on the flash drive, she remembers her mind control programming. Her transformation is complete.
THE CITY ON THE EDGE OF WHATEVER
Set on the far-future island of Lōʻihi, a stalwart and often silent mother rabbit is thrust into a house-hunting nightmare when her family home burns and her need for shelter is repeatedly sidetracked and silenced by the neighboring youth hostel''s idea of paradise. She encounters hostile landlords, meddling menehune, and a superhero-themed snake-oil salesman in her quest to have her needs heard and her kids safely sheltered.
FOR KAPISIGA PAUL LYONS
FOR KAPISIGA PAUL LYONS is dedicated to the beloved and dearly missed University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa English professor Paul Lyons (1958-2018) and showcases a long poem composed and recited by renowned artist and poet John Pule with an original soundtrack by musician Edgar Henderson. Filmed, produced and edited by poet and filmmaker Richard Hamasaki.
A LETTER HOME
A filmmaker pieces together the life of a loved one lost 15 years ago. Burned photos, memories of concentration camps, family graveyards in Japan--in a letter that can never be sent, telling their grandmother everything left unspoken.
LOTUS BODY (HIROSHIMA)
Learning about Hiroshima plants a seed in your heart. You have to comprehend 80 thousand people murdered at once. This film explores a way to deal with that.
STILL STANDING
After the Los Angeles wildfires leave thousands of homes contaminated with toxic ash, residents face an impossible choice: should they risk their health to return home?
THREE CUPS OF COFFEE
The taste of coffee and small gestures rekindle a lost intimacy. A single meeting is enough for the woman to confront what still lingers inside her.
Horror Shorts
7 films in this program
BANSHEE
In 1880s Ireland, Róise''s family is haunted by a banshee after she discovers a mysterious comb, leading to a series of deaths in her village.
BREEDER
Mary’s boyfriend has just broken up with her because she can’t commit to having children one day. While she drinks her troubles away alone at home, a demonic creature makes her its target, torments her, and makes the motherhood decision for her.
DRY JANUARY
When Maya gives up drinking and takes up sculpting, her crab sculpture comes to life and attacks her brother, Toby.
A HAND TO HOLD
An elderly woman struggles to move on after her husband’s death, when he refuses to let go.
HEIRLOOMS
Jaime’s quest for healing leads her to restore a family heirloom. But what begins as a therapeutic project, soon spirals into a battle against an ancient evil that has plagued her bloodline for generations.
THE HIGHWAY
While driving to a business dinner on the outskirts of Chongqing, Boss Li passes the body of an elderly shepherd killed in a highway hit-and-run. She later returns to the scene in an attempt to make sense of the stranger''s death.
PRAYING MANTIS
A praying mantis mutant seduces and preys on men out of desperation to save her child. A failed mission led to revelations of her past and dark secrets as the story unfolds.
International Shorts: Still, Life
7 films in this program
ADAPTATION
Traditional Sámi reindeer herding is on the brink of change due to the rapidly warming climate. No matter what, reindeer herders must adapt, otherwise, the reindeer starve, and there will be no future left.
AGAPITO
It''s the last day of the month. Bowlers flock to the lanes of a bowling alley that has seen better days. Mira, the manager, decides to close early. She''s awaiting the arrival of a special visitor.
THE DREAM IS A SNAIL
A struggling young artist takes an odd job as a human racetrack in a senior rejuvenation workshop, only to develop an obsession with the hypnotic sensation of snails gliding across his skin.
GOD SLEEPS ON SUNDAYS
A preacher who has fallen from grace is assigned to build a new church in a distant rural community. However, the major obstacle in his way is a staunch, revered traditional healer named Chirongoma, who inhabits the land bought by the church. The rivalry between them escalates leading to a deadly confrontation that threatens to destroy them both.
MANONGS
Set in 1965 California, a trio of immigrant Filipino farm workers can feel a strike coming as tensions over wages build between workers and farm owners. When one of our trio, Agani, is accepted into NASA’s astronaut program, he must decide whether to leave for NASA and follow his dream or stay and strike with his fellow workers.
TIDES OF LIFE
A humble guardian of the sea, Richard Tesore devotes his life to rescuing the fragile marine life along Uruguay’s coast.
VETERANO
An aging Filipino World War II veteran with nothing left to lose dusts off his past and his pistol for one last mission in 1981 San Francisco. A gritty neo-noir thriller rooted in the real history of Filipino World War II veterans.
International Shorts: The Young & The Restless
6 films in this program
ALI
In a coastal town, women are not allowed to sing. A teenager joins a singing competition for a chance to move to the city, while hiding his true voice in a sinister way.
ASTRONAUTA
Audely works as a lumberjack in the Guatemalan jungle. At home, his young daughter Carol dreams of entering that same forest. Audely thinks about it, then goes to the moon.
THE BOY WITH THE DINOSAUR HEAD
A teacher tries to match wits with an unruly boy who identifies as a dinosaur.
DOKOMADEMO (TO ANYWHERE)
Ever since Sora was a kid, she had one routine: hang out with Dad every Saturday, except for the last Saturday of the month, which Dad would spend alone. This winter, when she has to part with her childhood home, she finally questions this longstanding routine.
HYENA
In an isolated castle, students prepare for a life-changing examination. As anticipation builds to a fever pitch, a storm strikes. Trapped within crumbling walls, their academic sanctuary becomes a prison, and minds begin to break.
KATTI (UNFRIEND)
In a lively Indian household celebrating the birth of a baby boy, a spirited eight-year-old girl confronts the sting of gender bias and the complexities of sibling rivalry as she struggles for her family's attention, only to realize the unbreakable bond with her sister when the threat of separation looms.
International Shorts: Will Travel
6 films in this program
GIRL | DAD
A coming-of-age story told as a palindrome across forty years — a father raising a daughter, then a daughter raising her father. Starring Sherry Cola (Joy Ride) and Chris Tallman (The Thundermans), the film follows a Chinese adoptee and her single father as they navigate the quiet loneliness of cultural in-betweenness and bridge the gaps that language and heritage cannot fill.
LUCKY
The world is collapsing. Tess has six minutes to decide whether to join her blind date on his private jet to a remote island.
MILK & HONEY
Set in the early 1990s, Cherry is a Filipina nurse who leaves her family behind to pursue a better life in Texas. The reality proves far harsher than expected - grueling work, language barriers, and isolation. She clings to phone calls with her mother and baby daughter Nadine, though the distance grows.
NOT VALID FOR TRAVEL
To reunite with her long-distance partner in Toronto, a young Chinese woman boards a cross-border bus with a forged travel document.
VATERLAND
When German-Indonesian Yanto visits his younger sister in Yogyakarta, he expects a simple reunion – until he realises she belongs more effortlessly than he ever has. As envy and dissonance between siblings surface, Yanto’s journey becomes a bittersweet exploration of mixed-race identity.
THE WIND IN ASH
A tomboy returns to her hometown for a funeral, sparking a journey of self-discovery and a shift in her perception of her mother.
Keiki Shorts
7 films in this program
DA FARM
A young teen must intern at a farm to help increase her chances at getting into college, and along the way learns more about agroforestry and the everyday life of farming operations.
GROUNDED
Left behind as others take flight, a young ladybird discovers that sometimes in life you need a helping hand… or eight.
IN THE STILLNESS OF THE NIGHT
At dusk, solitary voyagers glide quietly through the island rainforest on their nightly insect hunt. Hawai’i’s loneliest mammal, the ‘ōpe’ape’a (Hawaiian hoary bat), continues a tradition begun thousands of years before humans arrived, unaware of dangers posed by human hands encroaching steadily, and destructively, into their forest home.
RAMEN WESTERN
A young Chinese American girl sets off to uncover the secrets of the American West with an unexpected sidekick: a sentient bowl of ramen.
SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
Set within the traditions of Hawaiʻi’s shores, Kaʻimi, searches for his kuleana—his responsibility to the ocean and community. Guided by his ʻohana and mentored by traditional fishers, Kaʻimi learns to see the ocean not just as a resource, but as an ancestor, teacher, and relative. This movement illuminates how cultural practices shape our reciprocal relationship with the sea, showing that kuleana is a privilege and an obligation.
SPROUT
Evie is thirteen years old and growing up during one of the most divided periods in modern history. Feeling the pressure of the world around her, she finds her escape on the rooftops of her city, where the noise fades and she can finally breathe. It''s there that she reunites with Sprout, an unlikely and mysterious companion.
ULU MAIKA
A determined young girl must face her longtime rival in a high-stakes ‘Ulu Maika (a Hawaiian stone disc-rolling game) showdown, discovering that true strength comes not just from skill, but from the wisdom and traditions passed down through generations. When an unscrupulous opponent threatens her dream of becoming champion, she learns that victory begins with believing in herself.
Made In Hawaii Shorts 1
5 films in this program
DAN & KAT HIDE A BODY
Dan and Kat are social media influencers on a couples vacation to Venezuela. When they accidentally hit a woman with their car, their picture-perfect getaway takes a dark turn. Rather than face the consequences, they attempt to hide the body and cover up what happened. Dark hilarity ensues as they scramble to evade accountability from both the law and the internet, while desperately maintaining their carefully curated online personas.
MASSAGERS 4 SALE
A daughter''s relationship with her father reaches its crisis point when he mistakenly purchases a new line of ‘massagers’ and ‘toys’ for their Chinatown gift shop in danger of being closed down.
OLI
A Kānaka Maoli soldier returns to Hawaiʻi after losing a comrade in arms for which he blames himself. Suffering from PTSD and survivor''s guilt, Paʻakai attempts to adjust to being back on the ʻĀina. He struggles to connect with his mother, family, and friends from high school. Recognizing her son is troubled, Kaiʻs mother recommends oli (chanting) as a means to help. Can ancestral knowledge help Kai heal?
PR
A quiet man trains alone at his neighborhood park, chasing a 300 lb deadlift while enduring small jokes about age, pride, and trying to impress women. But beneath the routine is a private pressure no one sees.
WHO RAISED YOU
Upon the death of her grandmother, Tia''s party boy father inherits her family home. His surprise arrival blows up Tia''s life, pushing her grief to a breaking point. With the help of her friend Layla, also grieving the woman who raised her, Tia is determined to run far away. Instead of the escape Tia intended, life offers the girls refuge in each other.
Made In Hawaii Shorts 2
5 films in this program
THE MAN AND THE TREE
The mango tree in Milton ''Papa'' Kāne''s backyard has been rooted to his family since the day he was born, his piko planted lovingly beneath it. Now facing a terminal illness, and city enforcement demanding the tree''s removal — more costs his family can''t carry — Papa takes matters into his own hands. Before anyone else can decide the tree''s fate, he gives it, and himself, a send-off no one saw coming.
PROFS
A retiring professor battles his ego, confronts his career, and engages with a rebellious former student – soon to be his successor.
SONS ARE NOT EARTHBOUND
At a grief camp in Hawaiʻi, a young boy sets out to capture the endangered ʻiʻiwi, his late mother’s ʻaumakua (spirit animal), only to discover that love and loss cannot be held captive.
STAINED
An art therapist and nanny are unexpectedly brought together one night by their wealthy client, forcing three generations of women to confront the stains of their past. As long-held tensions resurface and emotional wounds are reopened, they begin to question whether every stain can truly be washed away.
TUTUVI
A glimpse into the life, work, community, and collaborations of Japanese-Korean artist and designer Colleen Kimura.
PROTECTING KAHOʻOLAWE: 50 YEARS OF ALOHA ʻĀINA w/ SACRED ISLAND: LIVING THE DREAM
1 film in this program
Pacific Showcase Shorts: Between Worlds
4 films in this program
AMID THE NOISE AND HASTE
A trans woman seeks her true voice through vocal training while bracing to meet her boyfriend’s parents.
FACELESS
Along the Birrarung-Ga in Naarm, an Indigenous man exists across three parallel realities: a rough sleeper, an aspiring actor and an employee of a mining corporation. Moving between radically different social worlds, he encounters people who reveal competing versions of Australian life, forcing him to adapt, perform and assimilate. As the boundaries between these realities begin to collapse, he must confront the cost of constantly reshaping himself to belong.
OUR BIG GREAT TOTALLY AWESOME (AND PRACTICAL) ESCAPE
A younger sibling sneaks their brother out of a burn unit in a California psychiatric ward, going on a journey that involves cigarettes, ice cream and video game worlds as they chase an impossible plan to rowboat home to Hawai‘i, drifting further into a dream neither can hold onto.
POUĀKAI (RAPTOR)
When his only child is snatched by a legendary giant raptor, a young Māori chief must confront his deepest fears and summon the strength of his ancestors to face the creature in its mountaintop eyrie.
Pacific Showcase Shorts: Pacific Daughters
4 films in this program
EI
Rebecca escapes her abusive marriage in Aotearoa and returns home to the Cook Islands with her son, where they struggle to reintegrate with the small island culture and her familyʻs tradition of ei (floral garland) making.
HO‘OLONO (TO LISTEN DEEPLY)
Hoʻolono, meaning “to listen deeply,” is a cinematic act of listening and an exploration of return, responsibility, and our evolving relationship to land and self. Hoʻolono is an invitation to listen deeply, to remember that the path through ecological crisis may also be a path back to ourselves.
LADY SHAKA: SONIC SANDS
A poetic film following internationally recognized multi-Indigenous DJ Lady Shaka as she transforms club spaces into sites of resistance, connection, and cultural reclamation. Through music, movement, and community, she celebrates Pacific identity and turns the dance floor into a living expression of resilience and belonging.
LIKE FATHER LIKE DAUGHTER
An emotionally clumsy Tongan father and daughter—and her ex-boyfriend who lives with them—spend a year having multilayered conversations and family dinners that reveal if they can accept each other for who they’ve become.
Pacific Showcase Shorts: Tracing Home
4 films in this program
HOPE LOA
A moʻolelo (story) that paints the portrait of a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) woman, Shereen Balles, as she nurtures her traditions, language, land, and heritage. Woven together through her lei-making and enchanting voice, we intimately explore her lived experiences as a Kanaka Maoli, and what it truly means to live, breathe, and be Aloha ʻĀina – a Lover of the Land.
NOBODY #9
From Emmy®-Nominated director Fritz Bitsoie and Academy Award®-winning Breakwater Studios in partnership with Ancestry, comes the remarkable story of Diane Doss, once known as simply “Nobody #9.”
PILI HOU-FINDING HELEN
Oʻahu resident Diane Ako and her family looked for years for their missing matriarch, Helen Maliu, a full Hawaiian woman who vanished one day in 1900 and was never spoken about again.
WHERE YOU FIND ME
Shadowed by a lifetime of denying her multi-racial identity, one of the last surviving Munchkins from The Wizard of Oz embarks on a journey to finally find her way home.
Pacific Showcase Shorts: Where We Belong
7 films in this program
IAKWE: HELLO, GOODBYE
Based on real events, a young traveling salesman who after being adopted at birth, meets his blood relatives for the first time by chance while knocking on doors in Northwest Arkansas. The film explores the power and complexity of family bonds from a Pacific Islander/Marshallese perspective.
LANI
Professional golfer Tagiralani Luafalealo navigates her golf journey as the first Samoan woman to play in the LPGA.
OF THE LAND
A Samoan musician born and raised in Hawaiʻi, spends the day with his best friend Alex, chasing dreams of music, romance, and a future beyond their everyday lives. But as casual jokes and familiar spaces give way to increasingly painful encounters, the two are forced to confront how differently the place they call home sees them.
OHANA VENDORS
A documentary about the incredible employees that work for Blind Vendors ''Ohana, the largest employer of blind and low-vision staff in all of Hawai''i.
THE PLATFORM
A narrative short based on the remarkable true story of Ta’u Pupu’a, a Polynesian immigrant who rises to the heights of professional football but, after a devastating injury in his very first game, envisions an improbable second act: reinventing himself as an opera singer.
THE RAPTURE
With the rapture just days away, two haututū (mischievous) cousins reunite to complete their Koro''s (grandfather''s) last wish, to return home.
TAMAI
A son faces his biggest fear of reuniting with his distant father, who spent 15 years in prison, and now faces a new lifetime sentence — deportation.
Queer Shorts
8 films in this program
AS IT SHOULD BE
During a Lunar New Year reunion dinner in Hong Kong, Megan returns home from overseas to celebrate with her family. Surrounded by familiar traditions, crowded conversations, and the warmth of people who love her, she quietly carries something she''s never found the words to say.
BETTY ST. CLAIR
Betty St. Clair is in over her head! Backstage at an all-AAPI drag show, Betty struggles to keep her drag troupe on task. But when Betty takes the stage, an unexpected guest soon threatens to derail everything. Featuring performances by the nation’s longest-running all-AAPI drag family: the Rice Rockettes.
DEAR BELOVED
At A.B.O. Comix, an Oakland collective supporting incarcerated artists, Casper and Ollie spend their days answering calls, reading letters, and fighting to keep connection alive across prison walls. An intimate vérité portrait of care, art, and resistance inside a system built to isolate.
DELAY
A Chinese gay father tries to go to his heterosexual son’s wedding in Paris, but his trip gets unpredictably delayed.
GABE'S SISTER
Two young siblings get ready for their dad’s anniversary church service while navigating unspoken tensions in the household and beyond.
O ALOFA NEI, O ALOFA NĀ
A young woman caught between expectation and self-acceptance, finds herself confronting her repressed sexuality when a chance reunion with her first love stirs old feelings.
SHEESH, A TAYLOR LOVE STORY
In a country where drag is both art and survival, a Filipino impersonator named Taylor Sheesh turns Taylor Swift fandom into a movement of joy, belonging, self-expression, and empowerment — revealing the power of queer performance to make people feel seen, beautiful, and free in a region still fighting for equality.
WHALE 52 | SUITE FOR MAN, BOY & WHALE
Draws on the legend of the ''loneliest whale'' as a boy with selective mutism and an aging widower, bound by loss and sorrow, discover a magical pen and journal that let them hear each other''s unspoken cries and find healing.
YOU ARE THE FILM + GAMALAND
1 film in this program
