A wonderful alternative to the Hollywood blockbusters at the Cinema Nine and all those European art-house flicks at the Nickelodeon, Santa Cruz's annual Pacific Rim Film Festival of fiction films and documentaries from Asian countries returns to local theaters Sun., Apr. 26. While previous festivals featured high-profile fiction films from the Pacific Rim, last year's festival consisted entirely of documentaries, including an exclusive uncut version of The Gate of Heavenly Peace, Carma Hinton and Richard Gordon's acclaimed 1995 study of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests in China.
"Last year, the festival took a break from having the big feature films come in, and we're back to that. We kept the documentary component [from last year's festival]," said documentary filmmaker and UC Santa Cruz lecturer Geoffrey Dunn, also the director of the Community Television cable channel and a member of the festival's Steering Committee. "There was a lot of interest in documentaries last year, so I thought I'd continue that tradition by televising them [on Community Television Fri. Apr. 24 and Sat. Apr. 25]. The opening film is also a documentary."
This year's opening film is Luther Kahekili Makekau: A One Kine Hawaiian Man, filmmaker/musician Eddie Kamae's 1997 movie about Makekau, a legendary Hawaiian philosopher, singer, poet and cowboy with a colorful, cantankerous personality. "What's so interesting about this man is he lived his life to the fullest. Nobody swayed him in any way. He was out there doing what he wanted to do. I love the way he did things," Kamae told me while visiting the UCSC campus. "He loved animals. His best friend was his horse. He didn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. His father was a judge and a politician. He just wanted to be a cowboy. His idol was Rudolph Valentino. He had 59 kids. He was well-versed on any subject. He was a knowledgeable guy who just wanted to be a cowboy and just wanted to sleep by the oceanside with his horse, [as well as] drink and have a good time."
Luther Kahekeli Makekau, an acclaimed entry at the 1997 Hawaiian International Film Festival, will make its West Coast premiere at the Pacific Rim Festival on Apr. 26, at the Del Mar in downtown Santa Cruz. Kamae will appear at the Del Mar, introducing his film and performing Hawaiian tunes with a fellow musician, Bradda Smitty Hoapili Smith.
Other selections at this year's festival include Deep River, Kei Kumai's 1995 drama about three different generations of Japanese tourists who travel to India in search of spiritual fulfillment; and Lal Darja (The Red Door), Indian filmmaker Buddhadeb Dasgupta's picture about a successful Calcutta dentist bored with his bourgeois lifestyle. "This year, NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema — they're the ones we get the festival's film package from — brought in films that reflect a search for spiritual fulfillment in a time here at the end of the 20th century, when global consumerism is becoming more prevalent," said Cori Houston, this year's festival coordinator and the daughter of local writers James and Jeanne Houston. "[They also reflect] different ways it might be affecting people's lives and how they're looking for more spiritual meaning in their lives."
The film that will perhaps attract the most attention is Luther Kahekili Makekau, because of its exclusive West Coast debut. While sitting in front of the picturesque meadow surrounding the Student Center and the Music Center on a surprisingly warm, 80-degree day, Kamae told me he hoped there would be weather like this on Apr. 26, so that everyone could come to the Del Mar and see his film.
"You've had enough rain, right? We'll just hope for good weather," Kamae said. "We'll tell Luther that we'll need good weather."
"He would have kicked El Niño in the butt," I said. Kamae laughed and then looked up to the sky and said, "You heard that, Luther? Kick him in the butt!"
The 11th Annual Pacific Rim Film Festival will be presented at Santa Cruz's Del Mar Theatre from Sun. Apr. 26 to Tues. Apr. 28, and Watsonville's Fox Theatre from Wed., Apr. 29 to Thurs. Apr. 30. Admission is free. Parts of the festival will air on Community Television, Channel 72, from Fri., Apr. 24 to Sat., Apr. 25. For complete schedule information, visit www.cruzio.com/~commtv or call 425-FILM.