The Hawaiʻi International Film Festival starts on Oct. 21, and the organization has a new director to kick off the events.
Jean Lee took up the role as HIFF executive director in September, and she’s back on the islands after attending the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea.
Lee previously spoke with HPR in 2025 after she was named the inaugural presidential chair at the East-West Center. The former AP bureau chief is the only journalist to have worked in both North and South Korea.
HPR joined Lee again on a park bench across from the HIFF offices in Kaimukī. Amid the hustle and bustle of the trendy neighborhood, Lee took a moment to reflect on her new career path.
Interview Highlights
On joining HIFF
JEAN LEE: The team at HIFF is small but mighty. They are so talented. They have put together this fall festival with more than 80 feature films, more than 80 short films, and all the events that come with it. So I stepped into it very last minute. … But what I will say is that it is a year-round arts institution. So, as they do the day-to-day and carry out this really ambitious film festival, I am already looking ahead and planning strategically for the year ahead. So I am doing a little bit of both, trying to absorb everything that's happening … and making sure that we are doing the planning now so that we have a successful year-round operation in 2027.
On her personal interest in film
LEE: People know me as a journalist, as a foreign correspondent who covered Asia, but I have a long history with film. I wrote my graduate school thesis in journalism school on film, on the impact of portrayals of Asian Americans in film and how that impacts their identity.
So this is something I've been thinking about for a long time, and I think that filmmaking and journalism are part of the same mission of storytelling. … So this has been a throughline in my career, and so now I'm coming back to this, but with all the experience I've gained as a leader, as a newsroom leader, as a project manager, as an entrepreneur, as somebody who tries to think of strategy, and so I'm bringing all of that experience, as well as my national and international network, and pairing that with my love of film, and bringing that to HIFF.
On filmmaking in Hawaiʻi
LEE: What I've been struck by is how much talent there is here in Hawaiʻi. So that's one thing, that there are so many stories and so much talent and so much creativity here. I think this is the most creative place I've ever lived in, and I've lived in London, another place that's very creative and has a rich film industry. South Korea, obviously, but there's something really special here.
Part of it is just sheer talent, creative thinking, artistry, attention to stories, and I think that comes from the culture of wanting to talk story and hearing people's stories. What we need now is to get those into a medium, whether it's through radio or on TV. What we do at HIFF is on film, so that we can share those, so they can be expressed, and I would say so they can be spread around the world.
More information about the HIFF lineup and schedule of events across the state can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Oct. 15, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
