Asian-Pacific Films to Take Mainland Tour

Eight Asian and Pacific feature films from the Hawaii International Film Festival are paying a visit to the Pacific Rim’s eastern edge with a spring tour through California, New Mexico and Washington.

The film festival is sponsored by the East-West Center of Honolulu, a federally funded research institute that examines Asian-Pacific issues, including international relations, population and environmental issues and communications and culture. The festival, established in 1981, features films, documentaries and shorts selected to bridge cultural differences.

Although the festival is in its seventh year, this is the first mainland tour of Hawaiian festival films, and selections from past years have been included. The eight films touring are “Spices” from India, “Butterfly and Flower” from Thailand, “The Time to Live and the Time to Die” from Taipei, “Mandala” and “Our Sweet Days of Youth” from South Korea, “Muddy River” from Japan, “Yellow Earth” from China and “Other Halves” from New Zealand.

Jerry Samuelson, dean of the School of Arts at Cal State Fullerton and an adviser on arts activities for the California State University system, said he was interested in bringing the films to CSU campuses because of their artistic and cultural value.

“Traveling is wonderful; after you’ve traveled to a place, you feel you’ve begun to understand the people,” he said. “I think films are the next best thing. A film can take you to a place and engulf you and surround you with that culture.”

Screenings are free and open to the public. The films are showing at Cal State Fullerton Tuesday-Thursday and March 27-28 at USC. Fullerton schedule: (714) 773-3371; USC schedule: (213) 743-6071 or 743-6072.