Film Screening “August at Akiko’s”
Fri 01 Mar 2019, 8 pm
Manzi Art Space
14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi
From Manzi:
Manzi Art Space and Hamakua Films (New York) are pleased to present ‘August at Akiko’s’ – a feature film by Hawaiian director Christopher Makoto Yogi.
Shot in pastoral countrysides of the Big Island of Hawai‘i, AUGUST AT AKIKO’S is a quiet film filled with deep undercurrents of history and mythology. Capturing the daily lives of a tight-knit community of locals, the film immerses the viewer in the shape-shifting landscape of a place we all think we know, but really know little about: Hawai‘i.
Synopsis
How does one confront an unspoken ancestral and familial history?
Cosmopolitan musician ALEX ZHANG HUNGTAI (Dirty Beaches) returns to the Big Island of Hawai‘i having been away from his home for close to a decade. Armed with just a suitcase and a sax, Alex arrives on the gorgeous, lush Hāmākua coastline.
Upon arrival in Nīnole, his grandparents’ hometown, he finds that his grandparents’ old house has been leveled and development of a new property has already begun. He quickly realizes that Hawai‘i is no longer the island of his childhood memories.
Alex arrives at Akiko’s Bed and Breakfast in the small ghost town of Wailea Village. Akiko, the innkeeper and “mayor of Wailea”, has converted old Japanese plantation homes into a Buddhist sanctuary. She provides Alex with a room in the house of the now-deceased local postman – a house not unsimilar to the home his grandparents would have spent their lives in.
On island, living in the shadow of his ancestors, Alex slowly adapts to this quietly magical place. Alex’s unexpected spiritual guide on this journey is his lively, generous host, Akiko. With her, Alex communes with the land, learns to dance at the Japanese festival of the dead, visits the center of the sacred Kīlauea Volcano, and experiences first-hand locals’ efforts to pay tribute to the past through song, spirit, and work. Alex’s journey of self and artistic discovery manifests itself in music that he creates while on the island. He slowly opens up; he learns to breathe, to move, to slow down, to find the source of home within.
Watch the trailer:
The film is screened with English subtitle.
FREE ADMISSION
| Manzi Art Space 14 Phan Huy Ich, Hanoi Tel: (024) 3716 3397 Facebook: fb.co/manzihanoi Opening hours: 8 am – 10.30 pm everyday |
