A film festival that aims to connect people of various cultures from around the globe will commence this month at the Honolulu Museum of Art's Doris Duke Theatre.
The Cultural Animation Film Festival was inspired by young animators creating culture-based stories, according to Michael Ceballos, a cofounder of the festival and owner of O‘ahu-based animation studio Twiddle Productions.
Ceballos worked on the 2015 animated film “Maisa the Chamoru Girl Who Saves Guåhan” with Mary Therese Perez Hattori of East-West Center, the Guam Department of Education and others. He said there was a demand for showcasing these stories about culture.
“It showed that there’s a need for this type of programming,” he said. “Kids were able to see themselves and see locations that they grew up in or are aware of.”
The annual film festival is in its seventh year. The participation has grown from animators creating Pacific-Islands based films to animations from 21 countries — including Saudi Arabia, Ireland, China, Germany, Brazil and more.
This year's animators explored themes of social issues, cultural issues, gun violence, love and death.
The films are produced by children as young as seven years old to college students.
Sarah Fang, a manager and programmer at HoMAʻs Doris Duke Theater, said the festival brings unique animations created in various formats like stop motion. She said one film resonated with her to tears.
Hattori, a cofounder of the festival and director of the East-West Center’s Pacific Islands Development Program, said the festival helps increase cultural understanding.
“We’re helping through film connect people across cultures,” Hattori said. “As you watch all of these films, there’s so many themes that will resonate with you. You will see that there are so many more things that we have in common with people across the world than differences. And it’s those commonalities that will lead to more social harmony, global harmony and peace.”
The film will have four screenings in-person and virtually starting Oct. 13. Tickets can be purchased onHoMAʻs website. It's $15 for adults and $12 for museum members.
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