Posted on: Friday, April 5, 2002
2 Hawai'i films earn Mainland spotlight
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Editor
Two Island-produced films, shown at last year's Hawai'i International Film Festival in Honolulu and now making the round of other festivals, have earned awards from the 2002 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.
Director Edgy Lee's "Waikiki in the Wake of Dreams" has been awarded the Best Cinematography Award (documentary film category); Jiri "George" Dvorsky and Ken Libby were the cinematographers. The movie, which probes the flavors and the textures of Waikiki then and now, earlier won the 2001 Gold Plaque (documentary film, educational film category) in the Chicago International Film Festival.
Director-producer Kenneth Burgmaier's "Ki ho'alu: Keola Beamer" has won the Music Documentary Award. The film, co-produced and directed by Robert Stone, explores the history, virtues and artistry of slack-key guitar, with Beamer and Ledward Ka'apana, Cyril Pahinui, Ozzie Kotani, Cindy Combs, George Winston and Willie Nelson.
Both works will be shown in the Las Vegas International Independent Film Festival, now under way.
Lee said the recognition reflects "the level of expertise we have in the Islands." Her film was entirely produced here, from pre- to postproduction.
Drvosky, who fled Czechoslovakia about a decade ago to escape communism, settled first on Maui and now lives on O'ahu.
"I started as a teenager and I have the background (in films)," he said. "But I'm free-lancing. I would love to work in film more often."
"It certainly doesn't hurt to get recognition," Libby said. "We're doing a lot of good things that they (Mainlanders) don't see. It also would be nice if they use us more often, because there is talent here. Awareness is one of the key problems."
Burgmaier was ecstatic about his film's impact. "The New York Film Festival is the largest independent film festival in the world and has over 4,500 films submitted from over 50 countries and selects only 350 films for screenings," he said. "It's great that our Hawaiian treasure was noticed."
