The 2022 Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival includes 6 feature films exploring the diversity of the LGBTQ-māhū-aikāne experience. Join us at Consolidated Theatre Ward for Opening Night on Thursday, October 13, and for Closing Weekend at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art October 21-23.
Purchase an All-Access Pass for entry into all HRFF33 screenings, events and parties—including a fabulous fundraising party, Queer Night at the Museum, at the Hawaiʻi State Art Museum!
Opening Night Feature
Thursday, October 13, 6:00 pm
Consolidated Theatre Ward
WILDHOOD
Two Spirit, Drama, Romance
Two brothers embark on a journey to find their birth mother after their abusive father had lied for years about her whereabouts. Along the way, they reconnect with their indigenous heritage and make a new friend. Filmed in English and Mi’kmaq, Wildhood is written and directed by Hannam (Wildfire, Deep End) and produced by actor-turned-producer Gharrett Patrick Paon of Rebel Road Films (I am Syd Stone, The Sinner), with Julie Baldassi (My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes, Dim the Fluorescents) and Hannam as Producing Partner and Damon D’Oliveira (The Grizzlies, Honey Bee, The Book of Negroes) as Executive Producer. One of the first film productions in Nova Scotia to start up post-COVID lockdown, filming took place in the Annapolis Valley along the Bay of Fundy in Mi’kma’ki (Nova Scotia) in the summer of 2020.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 108 minutes
Language: English / Mi’kmaq
Country: Canada
Director: Bretten Hannam
Preceded by:
It Should Have Been Me
The fabulous Fatima, winner of the Tonga Miss Galaxy Pageant, brings down the house in this performance clip, followed by a Q&A with trans entertainer and fashion designer.
HRFF33 Opening Night – Wildhood + It Should Have Been Me
$10.00
Closing Weekend Features
Friday, October 21, 2:00 pm
Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art
WHEN MEN WERE MEN
Drama, Coming of Age, LBTQIA+
Set in the beautiful landscapes of Ireland, this debut feature film written, directed, produced, and acted by trans/non-binary filmmakers Aidan Dick and Izzi Rojas tackles issues of toxic masculinity in the trans community and in the process, creates a trans story by trans people for everyone.
Bullied at school and tormented by his religious mother to be a traditional girl, the only place Kieran, a trans teen, can be himself is the theater, where he is deeply respected and always ends up getting cast as the lead male. When Egan moves to the rural Irish town, Kieran’s precariously balanced world is in danger of crashing down, especially when he realizes that, despite himself, he has fallen in love with the new boy, who doesn’t know Kieran is trans. Pulled in several directions at once, Kieran has to let go of his idea of masculinity before he loses sight of who he is and those he loves.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1 hour 36 minutes
Language: English
Country: United States/Ireland
Director: Izzi Rojas, Aidan Dick
Friday, October 21, 7:00 pm
Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art
SWEETHEART
Comedy, Drama, LGBTQIA+, Coming of Age
Socially awkward lesbian teenager AJ begrudgingly joins her family on a seaside vacation. She finds herself constantly at odds with her painfully “normal” mother and older sister, neither of whom can understand why she doesn’t smile more or “dress like a girl.” Her anticipated “week of hell” takes an unexpected turn when Isla, a free-spirited and sun-loving lifeguard, catches her eye. Full to the brim with teen angst and romantic fumbling, Sweetheart wryly captures the bittersweet pangs of adolescent yearning, self-realization and personal connections, all against the hilarious ups and downs of the quintessential British family holiday. Praised as an “authentic account of the murky, counterintuitive waters of the queer adolescent experience” (Little White Lies), Marley Morrison’s feature debut is a surprisingly ebullient coming-of-age charmer not to be missed.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1 hour 43 minutes
Language:English
Country: United Kingdom
Director: Marley Morrison
Saturday, October 22, 2:00 pm
Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art
JIMMY IN SAIGON
Documentary, Mystery, Gay
Executive Produced by Dan Savage, Jimmy in Saigon is a feature documentary by filmmaker Peter McDowell who chronicles the story of Jim, his eldest brother, and a Vietnam War veteran. In 1972, when Jim was 24 and Peter was only 5, Jim died under mysterious circumstances while living as a civilian in Saigon. Through over 200 of Jim’s letters, candid interviews with Jim’s friends and family, and filming of the truth-seeking journey that led him across the United States, Vietnam, and France, Peter creates an elegiac work that examines grief, family secrets, war, drug use, sexuality, and healing, amounting to a celebration of a short but powerful life.
Year: 2022
Runtime: 89 minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Director: Peter McDowell
Saturday, October 22, 7:00 pm
Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art
POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA
Drama, Comedy
Struggling to survive in the USSR during the turbulent years of Perestroika, Lena and her gay son, Potato, escape into the fantasy world of pirated American movies, but soon the movies are not enough and Elena decides to become a mail-order bride and discover America for herself. Soon after Lena marries a much older and very eccentric John, the mother and son find that they’re in for a lot of surprises. Closely based on the writer-director Wes Hurley’s childhood, Potato Dreams of America is one of those stories that prove that real life is often much stranger than fiction.
Year: 2021
Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes
Language: English
Country: United States
Director: Wes Hurley
Sunday, October 23, 2:00 pm
Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art
BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND
Drama, Coming of Age
1987: While the other students wonder if new kid Robin is a boy or a girl, Robin forges a complicated bond with the school bully, making increasingly dangerous choices to fit in. IndieWire named Before I Change My Mind as one of “10 Must-See Movies at the 2022 Locarno Film Festival,” praising its “soft and transportive ’80s aesthetic,” and notes that the film “seems determined to confront the challenges and triumphs of self-becoming with the unwavering honesty of someone who remembers them both.”
Year: 2022
Runtime: 89 minutes
Language: English
Country: Canada
Director Trevor Anderson
Before I Change My Mind
$10.00
All-inclusive fundraising party for the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival with delectable bites from local restaurants and open bar courtesy of HRFF33 Legacy Sponsor Hula’s Bar & Lei Stand. Enjoy live music, DJ, entertainers and prizes!