Rainbow Film Festival


The Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival is an LGBT film festival held annually in Honolulu which began in 1989 as the Adam Baran Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
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History

Businessman Jack Law founded the non-profit Honolulu Gay & Lesbian Cultural Foundation in 1997 as an umbrella organization for the Adam Baran Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, now known as the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival.
Prior to establishment of the non-profit, the film festival, originally donated proceeds of the festival to the Life Foundation, the state's main AIDS/HIV organization. Today, the HGLCF is a self-supporting non-profit 5013.
Films programmed at the HRFF have gone on to win Peabody and Emmy Awards, such as the documentary, Daddy & Papa. HRFF has worked with PBS Hawaiʻi to program LGBT content documentaries. In 2008, a pilot Neighbor Island Outreach in Hilo on the Big Island began.

Events

The festival currently happens in the fall. In-person film screenings are scheduled throughout a three-day weekend, starting on a Friday and ending that Sunday. Screenings take place at Doris Duke Theatre inside the Honolulu Museum of Art. A selection of short films become available to screen online during the week that follows.

Awards

The types of awards at HRFF have varied throughout the years. Traditional awards include Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Narrative Short, Best Documentary Short, Best Hawaiʻi Short, Best Animation, Audience Award, Visionary Award, and Rising Star Award. The awards unique to this event are the Adam Baran Award, the Jack Law Award, the Rainbow Award, and the Phred Love Award.

HRFF35

Sept 20-22, 2024
  • Best Narrative Feature - Duino directed by Juan Pablo Di Pace and Andrés Pepe Estrada
  • Best Documentary Feature - Lady Like directed by Luke Willis
  • Best Narrative Short - EKG directed by Q. Allan Brocka
  • Best Documentary Short - Out of the Dark: Cal Calamia directed by Tom Mason and Sarah Klein
  • Best Hawaiʻi Short - I Am directed by Tony Dia
  • Best Made in Hawaiʻi Short - My Parents directed by Keliʻi Grace and Lance D. Collins
  • Best Made in Hawaiʻi Student Short - One Night directed by Jason Lanuevo
  • Audience Award Best Short - I Am directed by Tony Dia
  • Adam Baran Award - Ayumi Kurokawa; Director of ''Until the Day I Call Her My Son''

HRFF34

September 8-10, 2023
  • Grand Jury - My Partner directed by Keli'i Grace
  • Best Narrative Short - To Ken with Love directed by Mike Talplacido
  • Best Overall Short - Queerfully Departed directed by Trent Nakamura
  • Best Hawaiian Short - A Tale of Two Sisters directed by Angelique Kalani Axelrode
  • Audience Award Best Short - The Other John directed by Ryan Spahn
  • Adam Baran Award - Andy Valentine; Director of The Mattachine Family
  • Visionary Award - Jack Law
  • Best Director - Jason Karman; Director of Golden Delicious

HRFF33

October 21-23, 2022
The festival was held in-person for the first time since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Best Narrative Feature - Wildhood directed by Bretten Hannam
  • Best Documentary Feature - Jimmy in Saigon directed by Peter McDowell
  • Best Narrative Short - Firsts directed by Jesse Ung
  • Best Documentary Short - Gender Outlaw, a Body Surfing Story directed by Peter Williams
  • Best Made In Hawaiʻi Short - Cosmic Laundry directed by Alexandra Livingston
  • Audience Award Best Short - Cock nʻ Bull 3 directed by Nathan Adloff
  • Special Jury Mention - Fishbowl directed by Jacqueline Chan
  • Adam Baran Award - P.J. Palmer; Director of North Star
  • Rising Star Award - Vaughan Murrae; Star of ''Before I Change My Mind''

HRFF32

July 30-Aug 15, 2021
In-person events were canceled for the second year in a row due to a spike in Hawai'i COVID-19 cases leading up to the festival.
  • Best Documentary Feature - A Sexplanation directed by Alexander Liu
  • Best Short Film - Retribution directed by Mel Orpen
  • Best Narrative Short – Pool Boy directed by Luke Willis
  • Best Documentary Short - Veni Etiam directed by Alex Hai and Mahtab Mansour
  • Best Local Film - Other People directed by Bryson Kainoa Chun
  • Best Animation - Kapaemahu directed by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson
  • Audience Award Best Short - Hello Mother directed by Natalie Shirinian
  • Special Jury Mention - I Know Her directed by Fawzia Mirza
  • Adam Baran Award - Adam Bernard Baran; Director of ''Trade Center''

HRFF31

July 31-Aug 12, 2020
All in-person screenings and events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. For the first time since its conception, the festival moved to virtual screenings and awards.
  • Best Narrative Short - My Friend Michael Jones directed by Ian Leaupepe and Samson Rambo
  • Best Experimental Short - Safe Among Stars directed by Jess X. Snow
  • Best Local Documentary Short - Parental Guidance Suggested directed by Dane Neves
  • Best Local Narrative Short - The Longing Fade directed by Kaveh Kardan
  • Audience Award Best Short - A Walk Home directed by Tsuyoshi Shoji
  • Programmer Award Best Narrative Short - Melt directed by Moxie Peng
  • Special Jury Mention - In Orbit directed Soham Chakraborty, Hanxu Chen, Meton Joffily, Justin Polley and Julia Trouvé
  • Adam Baran Award - Kimi Howl Lee; Director of Kama’āina
  • Rising Star Award - Malia Kamalani Soon; Star of ''Kama’āina''

HRFF30

Aug 8-18, 2019
  • Best Short Film - Zero One directed by Nick Neon
  • Adam Baran Award - Gia Gunn; Star of Follow Me
  • Jack Law Award - Hannah Pearl Utt; Director of Before You Know It
  • Phred Love Award - Sandy Livingston; Director of Dungeons & Drag Queens: The Quest for the Golden Wig of Enlightenment
  • Phred Love Award - Dane Neves; Director of Outside the Lines: The Art of Cheyne Gallarde
  • Rising Star Award - D.J. 'Shangela' Pierce; Star of ''Shangela is Shook''

HRFF29

Aug 9-19, 2018

HRFF28

Aug 10-19, 2017

HRFF25

June 10-15, 2014

HRFF24

June 4-9, 2013
  • Best Narrative Feature - Any Day Now directed by Travis Fine
  • Best Documentary Feature - I Am Divine directed by Jeffrey Schwarz
  • Best Short Film - Holden directed by Juan Arcones and Roque Madrid
  • Rainbow Award - Geography Club directed by Gary Entin
  • Adam Baran Award - Xavier Dolan; Director of Laurence Anyways
  • Jack Law Award - David W. Ross; Writer of I Do
  • Phred Love Award - Branden Blinn; Director of Toeing the Line and ''A la Carte''

HRFF23

May 31-June 3, 2012

HRFF22

May 12-15, 2011
  • Best Narrative Feature - Romeos directed by Sabine Bernardi
  • Best Narrative Feature - Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same directed by Madeleine Olnek
  • Best Documentary Feature - The Advocate for Fagdom directed by Angelique Bosio
  • Best Short Film - I Was a Teenage Werebear directed by Tim Sullivan
  • Rainbow Award - Three Veils directed by Rolla Selbak
  • Adam Baran Award - Dan Jinks
  • Jack Law Award - J.C. Calciano; Director of eCupid
  • Phred Love Award - ''Beasty Training! v.8''

HRFF21

May 27-30, 2010

HRFF20

May 21-24, 2009
  • Best Narrative Feature - Clapham Junction directed by Adrian Shergold
  • Best Documentary Feature - Ferron: Girl on a Road directed by Gerry Rogers
  • Best Short Film - Weak Species directed by Dan Faltz
  • Phred Love Award - Kevyn K.M. Fong; Director of ''Beauty Brawl''

HRFF19

May 22-25, 2008
  • Best Narrative Feature - Tru Loved directed by Stewart Wade
  • Best Documentary Feature - Pageant directed by Ron Davis
  • Best Short Film - Thirteen or so Minutes directed by William Branden Blinn
  • Adam Baran Award - Were the World Mine directed by Tom Gustafson
  • Best Emerging Filmmaker - Katie Kelly; Director of Just Browsing
  • Phred Love Award - Brent Anbe; Director of ''Get Me Bodied''

HRFF17

May 25-28, 2006

HRFF16

May 26-29, 2005

HRFF15

May 27-30, 2004
  • Adam Baran Award - Q. Allan Brocka; Director of Eating Out
  • Phred Love Award - Brent Anbe; Director of One Night in Bangkok
  • Best Short - The Visitor directed by Dan Castle

HRFF13

May 30-June 2, 2002