Four LVHIFF Films Vie for Foreign Film Oscar Nom

Fiji's "The Land Has Eyes"

A record 58 countries have officially submitted films for Best Foreign Film Oscar consideration. Three of these films played at this year's Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival: Korea's "Welcome to Dongmakgol" by Kwang-hyun Park, Palestine's "Paradise Now" by Hany Abu-Assad, Taiwan's "The Wayward Cloud" by Tsai Ming-liang, and one was a LVHIFF selection from last year: Fiji's "The Land Has Eyes" written and directed by UH professor Vilsoni Hereniko and produced by Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, founding director of the 25-year old Hawai‘i International Film Festival.

I just watched "Welcome to Dongmakgol" last night, and found myself smiling delightedly through most of it (I know that's cheesy, but you know what I mean). The film had a childlike, magical tone to it, and two sequences in particular--one involving a massive boar, and the other involving popcorn--were pure movie enchantment.

>> 58 Entrants Vie For Foreign Film Oscar Noms [HawaiiChannel.com, 10/26/05]

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