2021, 54TH HUMBOLDT INT’L FILM FESTIVAL

First off, WOW! We cannot believe the Film Festival is here. We started planning this last August and at that point, we were focused on putting together a Virtual Film Festival with the uncertainty of what was to come with the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as the year went on there were glimmers of hope that gave light to the possibility of a limited face-to-face showing of some of the finalist films at the historic Minor Theatre. While that was a possibility that was on the horizon there was still the task at hand of screening all of 182 entries, we received this year from countries all around the world. We received films from South Korea, Iran, Myanmar, Egypt, Russia, Germany, France, Kazakhstan, Italy, Australia, to name a few. While it is always a difficult task to narrow them down to the finalist that would appear in Film Festival, we were blown away by the quality of films that were submitted this year. Also, a big shoutout to the Film 260 Film Festival students in both the Fall and Spring that helped screen each of the films. We could not have done it without you! So, after many, many Zoom meetings and hours of planning, organizing, and collaborating we are finally ready to show our community, the filmmakers, our supporters all the hard work we put into this year’s Fest. We hope the films that you see over the next week will bring you joy, open your eyes, give you perspective, and perhaps open your mind to what’s going on in the world that surrounds us. In the words of Mohsen Makhmalbaf, “We can love each other more through/of cinema.” These resonate what the Humboldt Int’l Film Festival stands for and will continue to carry forward for years to come. Thank you all for the support this year, being patient as we built out this year’s fest and we hope it’s one of the best ones yet. Enjoy Fest week and happy viewing! -Kylie Holub and Matt Brown, Co-Directors of the 54th Humboldt Int’l Film Festival.

54th HIFF PROGRAM

MEET THIS YEAR’S JUDGES

MO HARPER-DESIER

Monique Harper-Desir, Mo is a multi-racial visual artist from the Pioneer Valley, Western Massachusetts. She currently is a mother, an artist, an arts educator, and works at Access Humboldt as their director of Admin & Development. She also utilizes her knowledge around Media Literacy to lead antiracist & equity-based workshops and trainings. She first fell in love with visual arts around 8 with a 35mm camera and got her first video camera around 14. She mainly has created creative fiction or documentary-style narratives. She loves writing & directing the most in productions.
Mo got her Associates in Media Production from Greenfield Community College and immediately started teaching AV Tech to middle and high school youth upon her graduation. She also led an "arts for change" film program from 2011 - 2016 at Amherst Media, where youth were taught film techniques as well as media literacy to recorrect the misrepresentations we often find in media creation. She has worked with a number of organizations creating film or supplying media-based education like The Ford Foundations, Fractured Atlas, The Allied Media Conference, The Tulane University Black Arts Festival, and SXSW.

ISLEY REUST

Isley Reust is a German/American photographer, filmmaker, and composer who is based in Isafjordur, Iceland.
Isley has been working in film and music for the last 20 years. She has composed music for 2 Emmy & Glaad nominated shows, “Her Story & Razor Tongue”, as well as various other theatrical releases such as Mark Ruffalo’s “Anything”.
Isley also had her fair share of on-camera moments as well, appearing in Glaad nominated Aol’s True Trans, and some guest appearances on CNN’s Dr Drew and various other digital platforms as well as toured as a musician for 10 years
After spending years working in Los Angeles, she followed her lifelong passion for creating work in the Arctic where she currently resides.
Isley is currently working on short digital documentaries in the arctic, guiding adventure trips, and teaching workshops in the arctic.

Isley's Website

woodrow hunt

Woodrow Hunt is a Klamath/Modoc and Cherokee filmmaker and artist. He grew up in the Indigenous community of Portland, OR. Growing up in the Native community and in a family of artists gave him the experiences which shaped his interest in visual storytelling. He founded the Indigenous film production company Tule Films when he began his work as a freelance filmmaker working in the Pacific Northwest and realized his desire to solely work with Indigenous people. Tule Films works with Indigenous-owned businesses, Tribes, and Non-profits or projects which collaborate directly with the Native community. The majority of his work, through Tule Films, is focused on education. In 2017 during the implementation of Oregon’s Senate Bill 13: Tribal History/Shared History Tule Films began working with the Confluence Project. Confluence connects people to the history, living cultures, and ecology of the Columbia River system through Indigenous voices. Together Woodrow, through Tule Films, and Confluence created a series of short documentaries called *Stories from the River*. The short documentaries share personal stories and insights about the history, culture, and ecology of the land and its people as told by community elders and tribal leaders from along the Columbia River. The specific themes were chosen so that they may be incorporated into school curriculums focused on Indigenous people. They continue to make short documentaries centered around the Columbia River.
Woodrow is also an experimental artist working with his creative partner Olivia Camfield. His focus explores the functions and relationships between digital video and memory. Their films have appeared in the print and online publications of Artforum and Hyperallergic. Their work has screened at film events such as the Camden International Film Festival, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Portland International Film Festival, Alchemy Film, and Moving Image Festival, MoMA DocFortnight, and others. They are featured artists at COUSIN Collective, a collective supporting Indigenous artists expanding the form of film.

54TH HUMBOLDT INT’L FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS

Congratulations to all the films that were featured in the Best of Fest program and a shoutout to all of the amazing finalists in this year’s Fest!

Best of Fest Program

best of the fest

alina

As Nazis separate children from their parents in the Warsaw Ghetto, a gang of women risks everything to smuggle their friend's three-month-old baby to safety. Inspired by true events.
Director: Rami Kodeih
United States

BEST OF FEST: ANIMATON

kapaemahu

Kapaemahu reveals the healing power of four mysterious stones on Waikiki Beach – and the legendary dual male and female spirits within them.
Directors: Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson
United States

best of fest: narrative

god’s daughter dances

A transgender female dancer, Shin-mi, gets a call fom the Military Manpower Administration, to attend the Military Service Examination. Shin-mi, with everything in readiness, takes her steps to the Military Manpower Administration.
Director: Sungbin BYUN
South Korea

BEST OF FEST: DOCUMENTARY

from trash to treasure: turning negative into positives
From erosion to overgrazing to enduring poverty, the people of Lesotho – a highland country surrounded by South Africa – face a variety of difficult challenges. Yet grassroots communities in the country also exhibit tremendous resourcefulness and creativity. IN particular, a wealth of artist have mastered a talent for resurrection, developing the skill to creatively turn negatives into positives. Designers who tun discarded trash into beautiful jewelry, clothes, rugs. Filmmakers who turn tragedy into artistic expressions of resilience and compassion. Musicians who write songs to save the environment.
Director: Iara Lee
United States

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Director: Iara Lee
United States

BEST OF FEST: EXPERIMENTAL

THE PLEASURE OF KILLING BUGS

In the near future, the climate crisis reaches an irreversible point. A nun and a priest meet to talk about the disappearance of insects.
Director: Leonardo Martinelli
Brazil

best of fest: spotlight film: in solidarity with black lives matter & social justice issues

spear avenue

When the slaying of a Black university student sparks unrest in Humboldt County, California, community members question police procedures during the ongoing criminal investigation.
Director: Isaiah Alexander
United States

best of fest: spotlight film: self-care and wellness during covid

a year in exile

An immigrant’s first year in a metropolitan city outside his small country. Through a collection of moving images and sounds the film exhibits what he faces, the pictures that he sees, the crowded thoughts in his head, and the state of emotional shock that he lives throughout the year.
Director: Malaz Usta
Turkey

ledo matteoli award: best immigrant film

my grandfather the storyteller

My grandfather was just 19 years old when he witnessed a war that divided him between the country that he loved and the country whose blood ran through his veins. This is his story of pain, pride, and patriotism.
Director: Madison Kaisan
United States

Pablo Koontz award: best experimental technique

so many ideas impossible to do all

A year before her death, Barbara Hammer asked me to work on a project she'd envisioned based on her correspondence (1973-85) with Jane Brakhage. She also gave me outtakes from her 1974 film "Jane Brakhage" and told me to let the project take me wherever it led. What emerges is a portrait of Barbara as a brave and vibrant artist and a complex and nuanced long-distance friendship.
Director: Mark Street and Barbara Hammer
United States

Humboldt - Del Norte film commission award: best environmental film

écocide

Paris, October 2020. Dozens of Brazilians and Frenchmen gather at the foot of the Sacré Cœur Basilica, in Montmartre, to hold a vigil against the ecocide underway in Brazil. Dressed in black and carrying candles, they denounce the continuing arson in the Amazon, the Pantanal, and the Cerrado and the denial of the Brazilian extreme right government.
Director: Liliane Mutti
France

people’s choice awards

These films were selected by the viewers of this year’s fest as their favorite films in each of the categories. Congrats to films that received the People’s Choice Award for the 54th Humboldt Int’l Film Festival!

narrative

ALINA

As Nazis separate children from their parents in the Warsaw Ghetto, a gang of women risks everything to smuggle their friend's three-month-old baby to safety. Inspired by true events.

Director: Rami Kodeih

United States

EXPERIMENTAL

AQUÍ

Aquí is an experimental 16mm short film exploring what home means to a multicultural young woman.

Director: Melina Coumas

United States

documentary

FROM TRASH TO TREASURE: TURNING NEGATIVES INTO POSITIVES

From erosion to overgrazing to enduring poverty, the people of Lesotho—a highland country surrounded by South Africa—face a variety of difficult challenges. Yet grassroots communities in the country also exhibit tremendous resourcefulness and creativity.

Director: Iara Lee

United States

spotlight film: in solidarity with black lives matter & social justice issues

1,000 Songs

"1000 Songs" features 83-year old journey-man musician and R&B singer Ricky Rose of Brooklyn New York. Ricky has been playing music for 70 years and despite "never making it to the big time" his passion for playing live has never dimmed.

Director: Marin Sander-Holzman

United States

animation

KAPAEMAHU

Kapaemahu reveals the healing power of four mysterious stones on Waikiki Beach – and the legendary dual male and female spirits within them.

Directors: Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson

United States

spotlight film: self-care and wellness during covid

AVIARY

Adriana is living with the fear of leaving her house, called agoraphobia. She wakes up from a nightmare, where she is breaking free from water. She wakes up in a cold sweat and gets a package she had ordered online. We see her struggling to grab her package and maintain distance from the outside world. Later on, in the week, she is watching television and gets hungry. She orders groceries online to her doorstep. Once the groceries arrive, she realizes they are placed too far from her comfortable reach. Adriana has to overcome her fears if she wants to break free from her entrapment and retrieve her groceries.

Director: Lauryn Blottin

United States