‘Linsanity’ headlines HIFF

‘Linsanity’ headlines HIFF

The first Hawaii showing of the Jeremy Lin documentary ‘Linsanity’ will screen during the Hawaii International Film Festival’s Spring Showcase. The documentary about the pro basketball player, one of 34 films from around the world at the showcase, will be the closing-night feature. –Courtesy photo

“Linsanity,” the story of professional basketball player Jeremy Lin and his amazing arrival in the NBA, is headed for its first Hawaii screening in the Hawaii International Film Festival’s Spring Showcase.

The feel-good documentary is a featured selection for HIFF’s showcase of 34 films from 15 countries. The spread includes films from Asia, indie films that moved audiences on the festival circuit, and a pair of adventure movies that have already generated buzz: “Kon-Tiki” and “Storm Surfers 3D.”

“Linsanity” has generated buzz, too, for the drama of its subject as well as its good timing. It follows Lin, the first Asian-American pro basketball player since 1947, who allowed director Evan Jackson Leong to follow him during his rookie season.

After Lin was cut by two teams and rode the bench for a third — the New York Knicks — Leong thought he was filming a tale with an unhappy ending.

No one could imagine what happened next: Lin led the Knicks to a seven-game victory streak that made him the darling of the Big Apple.

The only way to describe it? “Linsanity.”

The film, which is narrated by “Hawaii Five-0″ star and local resident Daniel Dae Kim, played to packed houses at its Sundance Film Festival premiere in January. In San Francisco, not far from where Lin grew up, Leong’s film recently sold out a 1,400-seat theater.

Leong is happy with that but he said he’s relieved, too.

“You never know,” Leong said by phone from New York. “You could work on a project and you may like it and your friends like it, but the audience may not. Personally I felt this is a big responsibility. I have an opportunity to tell a story that everyone is going to remember.”

‘Kon-Tiki’ is the story of one man’s attempt to prove his theory that South Americans populated Polynesia. The film kicks off the festival. –The Weinstein Co.

After hundreds of Division I college basketball programs declined to offer him a scholarship, Lin went to Harvard (his perfect SAT math score likely helped), then was similarly ignored during the NBA Draft.

Lin initially rejected Leong’s desire to film his senior season at Harvard but changed his mind during his rookie season with the Golden State Warriors.

Leong and crew captured hundreds of hours of footage of Lin well before his startling Knicks debut.

“It’s a universal story about chasing a dream,” Leong said. “I think anyone can relate to failing and no one believing in you and you know you can do it but you don’t get a chance. And you knock it out of the park.”

Local anticipation for “Linsanity” was so great that HIFF had to add an additional screening. The film will be shown on two screens at the same time as the closing-night presentation. (The Star-Advertiser is a closing-night sponsor.)

Actor Brian Yang, who has a recurring role as lab technician Charlie Fong on “Hawaii Five-0,” helped produce “Linsanity.” Fong said Lin’s down-to-earth humility has had a strong appeal to moviegoers.

“He’s someone who could be your pal, your classmate, your next-door neighbor,” Fong said.

“Jeremy is someone everyone has in their lives. He just happens to be one of the best basketball players in the world.”

And just as Linsanity made fans out of folks who didn’t care for basketball, the documentary has inspired audiences, Yang said.

“Women, men, people of all backgrounds have come up to us after the screenings, some literally in tears, expressing how meaningful the inside story of ‘Linsanity’ was and how much they hope the rest of the world gets to understand the message that this film tells,” Fong said.

SHOWCASE ORGANIZERS are thrilled to have “Linsanity.” The spring showcase, now in its 13th year, offers organizers a chance to screen films that they could not get for the annual fall film festival.

“We want the hottest, latest films, and a lot of that can’t happen until the last minute,” said Chuck Boller, executive director of HIFF. “Spring usually has so many gems that we couldn’t get in the fall.”

“Kon-Tiki,” which was nominated for an Oscar for best foreign-language film, is the opening-night selection. The Norwegian-language film will be shown, not the English-language version that was shot simultaneously.

The story of Thor Heyerdahl’s 4,300-mile voyage across the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft in 1947 is a gripping film that is filled with beautiful cinematography, the blue expanse of the ocean and menacing sharks.

Boller read Heyerdahl’s book about the voyage when he was a boy, and the movie brought all that back.

“I watched the trailer, and then I flashed back to some of the themes of my childhood,” he said. “I remember the adventure.”

The Norwegian explorer believed that Polynesia was populated by settlers from South America who followed prevailing winds. The theory was disproved decades later when the Hawaiian sailing canoe Hokule’a and its navigators purposely journeyed across the Pacific.

But that’s not the point of the film, whose Hawaii audience will likely be its most savvy when it comes to the nuances of open-ocean exploration.

“As you get drawn into the story, you will realize that even though it’s wrong it’s still an adventure,” said Minette Ferrer, assistant programmer for HIFF. “It’s one hell of a story.”

“Storm Surfers 3D” is a quest of another kind and again, one that Hawaii audiences will understand intimately. It follows a pair of surfers, Aussie tow-surfing legend Ross Clarke-Jones and two-time world champion Tom Carroll, as they try to find and ride the most dangerous waves in Australia.

“What better genre than a surf movie to have in 3-D?” Boller said. “They’re killer waves. They’re storm surfers, so they’re crazy to begin with.”

Australian tow-surfing legend Ross Clarke-Jones takes on Shipsterns Bluff in ‘Storm Surfers 3D.’ –XLrator Media

SPRING HIGHLIGHTS

HIFF’s Spring Showcase will present 34 films from 15 countries. Find a complete schedule at HIFF.org. Highlights:

“Kon-Tiki,” the opening-night film, is the story of Thor Heyerdahl’s 4,300-mile voyage across the Pacific on a balsa-wood raft in an attempt to prove his theory that Polynesia was populated by settlers from South America. This EuroCinema Hawai’i-sponsored selection was an Oscar nominee for best foreign-language film; 6:30 p.m. today and 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. Norwegian with English subtitles.

“Comrade Kim Goes Flying,” the first Western-financed fiction feature made in North Korea, is a life-affirming fable about a coal miner who dreams of joining the national circus and becoming a trapeze artist despite a deathly fear of heights; 3:45 p.m. Sunday and 1 p.m. Wednesday. Korean with English subtitles.

“Mud” tells the story of two boys who find a mysterious and possibly dangerous man named Mud — played by Matthew McConaughey — hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Reese Witherspoon appears as his girlfriend in this Southern gothic film, which has screened at Cannes and South by Southwest to favorable reviews; 8:30 p.m. Sunday.

“Pieta” is the intense story of a brutal but lonely loan shark who encounters his long-lost mother and decides to quit his cruel job, only to discover a horrible secret; 9:15 p.m. Monday and 1:15 p.m. Tuesday. Korean with English subtitles.

“Go Grandriders” is a different kind of road movie, featuring a group of elderly Taiwanese — average age 81 — who embark on a heartfelt and hilarious round-the-island motorcycle trip; 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. Min Nan with English subtitles.

“Storm Surfers 3D” follows best friends Ross Clarke-Jones and Tom Carroll on their quest to ride the biggest, most dangerous waves in Australia, including a spot 47 miles out to sea called Turtle Dove; 8:45 p.m. Wednesday.

“Linsanity,” HIFF’s closing-night film, is a documentary about NBA player Jeremy Lin and his improbable streak of high-profile games with the New York Knicks in February 2012; 6:30 p.m. Thursday.