"Empire of Silver" wins HIFF Top Award

And the winner is...

Empire of Silver wins the Hawaii International Film Festivals Halekulani Golden Orchid Feature Film Award.  Here are some reports from the front:


screendaily.com
Hawaii Reporter

Here is a synopsis:

Empire of Silver – Christina Yao (2009)

Cast: Aaron Kwok, Zhang Tielin, Lei Hao, Jennifer Tilly, Cheng Ding Zhi
China, 1899: A hedonistic young man must assume the role of heir to a banking empire he cares little about. Following the tragic kidnapping of his brother’s wife, "Third Master" reluctantly submits to pressure from his overbearing father. Powerful bank-owner Lord Kang is determined to prepare Third Master for financial leadership by molding his son into his own image. The ruthless businessman tries to convince his son to choose a proven unscrupulous bank manager over a more honest one. But the idealistic Third Master has always questioned his father's autocratic rule and ethics. The tense relationship is further complicated by Third Masters undying love for his beautiful young stepmother, his first and only love stolen from him by his own father. Embarking on a metaphysical journey, Third Master must decide whether to follow his father's path or find his own. Greed, deception and jealousy surface under the pressures of war and the impending change from silver to paper bills...

Year 1899, China is under the control of Qing Dynasty with their financial capital located in Shanxi. The Kang family is part of the national banking empire which is also known as Chinas Wall Street. Lord Kang (Zhang Tie Lin) is looking for a suitable heir for the family banking business and he decides to groom his third son, Third Master (Aaron Kwok) as his other brothers are involved in accidents. Third Master is reluctant at first but succumbed to his father’s stern and autocratic actions. As his age is slowly catching up and he wants the next generation to continue the family-run banking business, Lord Kang is determined to turn his son into a ruthless businessman just like himself. However, his son has always called into question his father's style of leadership and uncharitable business principles. The tense and conflicting relationship between father and son worsen further when Third Master expresses his love for his lover (Hao Lei), who is also his step-mother. She is the first and only love of his life. It all began when she was his English teacher but it was his stern father she ended up marrying. Now Third Master must decide to follow his father’s way or his own way in life...

HIFF Feature Film Halekulani Golden Orchid Award

Well sat down this evening with writer-filmmaker Toa Fraser and actor Daniel Dae Kim to discuss the merits of the films competing for the 2009 HIFF Golden Orchid Award for Best Feature Film.  It was an excellent conversation, though Daniel is in L.A. and the cell phone connection kept cutting out.  HIFF Executive Director Chuck Boller popped in and out, and Programmer Anderson Le was tracked down to a kareoke party somewhere in Honolulu in order to give some background.  Award winners will be announced tomorrow at the Dole Pineapple Cannery Theaters.  4pm.  It's free and open to the public. 

2009 UH Women's Golf Team

At 5am Kaili is on her way to Colorado with a scarf, beenie and gloves.  She's in a 20-team tournament.  The tournament is a memorial event in honor of golfer Heather Farr, and is held in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

UH Women head to Colorado

Kaili's first day of competitive college golf

UH Women's Golf Homepage

First Look Mixed Media Festival Exhibition

Phipps Conservatory Garden at Carnegie Mellon University

Pete's visit to the FINE Fellow GIGAPAN Workshop at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This Panorama was taken at the Phipps Conservatory, one of our hosts.



Here's a link to the image on the GIGAPAN site:

Phipps Conservatory Garden

Kamahele at Makapuu

GIGAPAN Photo Shoot in Downtown Honolulu

Below are links to a gigapan photo shoot from Thursday February 5th down on Fort Street Mall. Classes from Hawaii Pacific University have teamed up to create an online presence and this photo shoot is one of the the collaborative projects undertaken by the classes. Gigapan is a project from Carnegie Mellon University and NASA originally undertaken to capture terrestrial images of Mars.

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=16209

http://gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=16000

http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=15993

Thanks to photographer Richard Palmer and producers from Writing for New Media.

The below ditty is from: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~globalconn/gigapan.html

"The Gigapan camera is a simple robotic platform for capturing very high-resolution (gigapixel and up) panoramic images from a standard digital camera. Sponsored by Google, CMU and the NASA Ames Intelligent Robotics Group, the Global Connection Project has also developed software which places you inside the panorama and lets you explore.

An earlier version of this imaging technology was developed for the Mars Exploration Rovers; the panoramas created from Mars enabled a simulated experience of being on another planet. The Gigapan project aims to create a similar experience, but for exploration of Earth."