Perspective. When we are bombarded with media and noise from every angle, we are grounded by perspective, nuance, and point of view. Cinema exemplifies this power of perspective: The immersive experience of watching a film allows us to see things through the eyes of another. At the Vilcek Foundation, a core focus of our work is to share the perspective of immigrant artists, scientists, and makers, so as to better understand our world and the profound impact of immigration on culture and humanity.

This initiative led us to develop the New American Perspectives program at the Hawaiߵi International Film Festival (HIFF) nearly 20 years ago. New American Perspectives shines a spotlight on the work, voices, and experiences of immigrant and foreign-born filmmakers, grounded with HIFF’s mission to support independent, foreign-born, and indigenous filmmakers.

The Vilcek Foundation is proud to present the New American Perspectives program at the 44th Annual Hawaiߵi International Film Festival in Honolulu, October 2–13, 2024. 

Films and Filmmakers

Our 2024 New American Perspectives filmmaker cohort includes:

• Roger A. Deakins (b. United Kingdom) and James Ellis Deakins (b. United States)
• Ramona S. Diaz (b. Philippines)
• Sasha Rainbow (b. New Zealand)
• Kenji Tsukamoto (b. Japan)
• Van Tran Nguyen (b. Vietnam)

The Vilcek Foundation partners with HIFF to present filmmaker discussions, an artist master class, film screenings, and classroom presentations in local schools and universities in Hawaiߵi. The centerpiece of the program is a moderated panel discussion called New American Perspectives in Filmmaking, centering our filmmaker cohort’s collective experiences and perspectives on artistry and industry. 

The Vilcek Foundation is delighted to present screenings of Roger Deakins’s Blade Runner: 2049, Ramona S. Diaz’s And So It Begins, Sasha Rainbow’s Grafted, Kenji Tsukamoto’s Ashima, and Van Tran Nguyen’s The Motherload at HIFF in October 2024.

Filmmaker Profiles

Blade Runner 2049

Roger Deakins (b. United Kingdom), director of photography

James Deakins (b. United States)

Academy Award–winning cinematographer Roger Deakins is prolific, known for his precision, range, and compositional eye. For nearly 40 years, he has directed photography on films ranging from 1984 and Sid and Nancy to The Shawshank Redemption, Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and Blade Runner 2049 and 1917. His partner, James Ellis Deakins, is a notable script supervisor, editor, and continuity editor, having worked on major films including Fools Rush In, Unbroken, and 1917. 

The Vilcek Foundation and HIFF present a screening of Blade Runner 2049, followed by an extended master class discussion with both Roger and James Deakins on Saturday, October 5, 2024. 

And So It Begins

Ramona S. Diaz (b. Philippines), director

Ramona Diaz is an award-winning Filipina American filmmaker best known for her character-driven documentaries that provide intimate portraits of individuals to provide unique, first-person insights into complex social and political issues. Her first full-length documentary, Imelda, debuted at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and went on to be distributed globally and broadcast on the PBS series “Independent Lens” in 2005. Diaz’s latest documentary, And So It Begins, examines the rise of autocracy in Filipino politics, and independent political, journalistic, and community-based movements to protect truth and democracy in the Philippines. 

Grafted

Sasha Rainbow (b. New Zealand), director and screenwriter

Sasha Rainbow was born in New Zealand and lived and worked in the United Kingdom for several years before moving to Los Angeles in 2020 for the Women in Film mentorship with Girls in Film. The Vilcek Foundation presents Rainbow’s first full-length narrative film, Grafted. A body horror pierced with satire, the film explores concepts of desire and diaspora, beauty and brutality as it follows protagonist Wei, a promising young scientist, as she strives to fulfill her father’s scientific legacy and achieve standing among her peers at any cost. 

Ashima

Kenji Tsukamoto (b. Japan), director and cinematographer

Kenji Tsukamoto is a Japanese American photographer, filmmaker, and director. In 2011-2012, Tsukamoto began following the climbing career of young Japanese American rock climber Ashima Shiraishi, who by the age of 10 was achieving world renown in bouldering and rock climbing. Ashima follows the climber and her father and coach as she attempts a world-famous climb. The film explores Ashima’s relationship to her sport, her coach and father, and the internal and external pressures she faces as a young first-generation American athlete attempting something phenomenal. 

The Motherload

Van Tran Nguyen (b. Vietnam), screenwriter, director, and performer

Van Tran Nguyen is a Vietnamese American artist-scholar, filmmaker, curator, and multimedia artist. Nguyen’s first full-length feature, The Motherload, will have its world premiere at the 2024 Hawaiߵi International Film Festival. Through parallel narratives, the film explores the experiences of a Vietnamese American mother and daughter as they navigate their relationship to one another and to their own relationships to the United States and to Vietnam. With sharp satire, wit, cardboard helicopters, and puppets, the film deflates the militaristic propaganda and misinformation about the American war in Vietnam that has energized Hollywood films from The Green Berets to Full Metal Jacket.