Hawai’i Film Festival to Open With ‘The Navigator,’ Names ‘Drifter’ as Centerpiece (EXCLUSIVE)

The Hawai’i International Film Festival presented by Halekulani will open its 46th edition, HIFF46, with the world premiere of “The Navigator,” directed by Jordan Manley, at the historic Hawai’i Theatre Center.

“The Navigator” is a made in Hawai’i documentary centered on Nainoa Thompson, who nearly half a century ago became the first Native Hawaiian in 600 years to sail from Hawai’i to Tahiti using no modern instruments. The documentary follows him on a 2,400-mile return voyage accompanied by a new generation of trainee wayfinders, drawing on wisdom instilled by master navigator Mau Piailug. The screening also marks HIFF’s first opening night held at the Hawai’i Theatre Center since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

“It is a tremendous honor for HIFF to open our 46th Festival with the world premiere of ‘The Navigator,’ a film that could not be more deeply connected to Hawai’i and to who we are as a festival,” said Jean H. Lee, HIFF executive director. Lee added that Nainoa Thompson’s legacy “represents the reclamation and perpetuation of ancestral knowledge, a living connection across Oceania, and the responsibility to pass that knowledge to the next generation.”

HIFF46’s centerpiece presentation is the Hawai’i premiere of “Drifter,” the feature directorial debut of actor and filmmaker Sung Kang, who also wrote, produced and stars in the film. Set against the drifting subculture, the story centers on a lone racetrack janitor carrying old wounds, who gets one shot at redemption behind the wheel if he can learn to trust those around him.

The festival features 84 films in total, including 34 world premieres, six North American Premieres, 12 U.S. premieres and three international premieres, alongside selections from Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Busan. The program also includes 86 short films; HIFF is the only Academy Award-qualifying film festival in the state of Hawai’i for short films.

The festival’s 24 individual premiere titles include world premieres “Beyond the Smiles: Yani Tseng,” “Making the Line,” “Niu Forever,” “Orphan Myth,” “Sukiyaki” and “Protecting Kahoʻolawe: 50 Years of Aloha ʻĀina”; North American premieres “The House on the Moon,” “The Mage,” “Ugly Duckling Ms. Maeng” and “Will You Still Be My Friend?”; U.S. premieres “Big Little Things,” “Chura Vita,” “Fruit Gathering,” “Lomu,” “Los Vampires,” “Satoko Always,” “Sgt. Haane,” “Sukundimi Walks Before Me,” “We Are Born Good” and “You Are the Film”; and international premieres “2 Valid IDs,” “Guided by Horses” and “Shadow Work.”

The lineup also brings in festival selections from Cannes, Sundance, Berlin and Busan, including “Josephine,” “Bedford Park,” “Take Me Home,” “All of a Sudden,” “Coward,” “Fatherland,” “La Bola Negra,” “Minotaur,” “The Station,” “9 Temples to Heaven” and “We Are Aliens,” alongside a studio slate featuring Netflix’s “Ink,” “14th” and “Possible Love”; A24’s “Club Kid” and “The Debut”; IFC Films’ “Tangles” and “Mouse”; Searchlight Pictures’ “Behemoth!” and “Wild Horse Nine”; Amazon MGM Studios’ “I Play Rocky”; and Neon’s “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” and “Clarissa.”

Alongside its film program, HIFF46 presents the second annual HIFILM industry conference, featuring conversations with filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, “Romanticals” creator Jonah Feingold, producer Walter Hamada, Desert Eclipse CEO Jason Chen, actors Holt McCallany, Henry Ian Cusick, Alex Tarrant and Amy Hill, and writer-producer Dana Ledoux Miller, among others.

“At its core, HIFF has always been about where we are,” said Anderson Le, HIFF artistic director. Le noted that the festival can present “an awards contender from Cannes or Sundance one night, a world premiere from Hawai’i the next, and then a new filmmaker from Korea, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Aotearoa or across Oceania – and they all belong in the same conversation.”

The festival runs Oct. 21-Nov. 5 on Oahu and continues through Nov. 15 on Maui, Molokai, Lanai and the Big Island of Hawai’i.