The 26th HawaiiInternational Film Festival (HIFF) held its awards ceremony Oct 26, with theHalekulani Golden Orchid for best feature film going to Indonesian film Love For Shareby Nia Dinata.

The main jury wasmade up of New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell, programmer Matt Dentler fromSouth by Southwest, and actor Kal Penn.

The jury chose Love For Shareunanimously, calling it "a wonderful film from a place from which we don't seeenough films. It was political, touching, dramatic, and really, really funny."The film weaves the stories of three women together in a portrait of polygamouslifestyles in Jakarta.

The Golden Orchidfor best documentary went to Time And Tide, a Tuvalu-US co-production by co-directors JulieBayer and Josh Salzman, dealing with a group of expats who return to the islandnation of Tuvalu to find global warming threatening theirland.

The NETPAC award wentto Royston Tan's 4:30 and the Maverick Award went to directorKevin Smith who rocked the audience with laughter at his acceptance speech fullof ribald jokes - in the midst of which he pulled a straight face and said, "Filmmakingis a communication medium. But fuck that, I do it for the awards."

The Hawaii FilmOffice recognised the television series Lost,whose executive producer and director Jack Bender commented upon theversatility of Hawaiian locations and crews, and how the islands' locations andsets easily doubled for places in Sydney, Iraq, the UK, San Francisco and soon, saying, "organically, you are there."

Arguably ridingthe crest of a wave of pan-Asian developments which look to form a culturalbloc along the Pacific Rim, HIFF has been showcasing Asian cinema as well as up-and-comingAsian-American directors like Ham Tran (JourneyFrom The Fall) and Eric Byler (Americanese,Charlotte Sometimes).

The festcontinues until Oct 29 in Honolulu followed by a tour of other islands untilNov 5.