HAWAII INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: I WAS A SIMPLE MAN (HAWAII PREMIERE)

“One of the best films to world-premiere at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.” -Zack Sharf, IndieWire

The film stars Constance Wu opposite a cast ensemble of Asian American and Native Hawaiian actors, including Iwamoto, Wu, Kanoa Goo, Tim Chiou, and Chanel Akiko Hirai.Ghosts become flesh and blood, and the living learn to die in I WAS A SIMPLE MAN, the long-awaited sophomore feature from Christopher Makoto Yogi. Masao (Steve Iwamoto) is an aging man with few companions other than his dog, and their life on Oahu’s North Shore initially seems tranquil and undisturbed. But when he receives news from his doctors that he’s not long for this world, his life’s regrets and the sources of his isolation begin to surface, like a slowly rising tide.

I WAS A SIMPLE MAN is a languorous and haunting character study that intertwines personal and historical traumas across the sweep of Hawai‘i’s long 20th century. What does it take to come face-to-face with the past, and to reckon with it?

-Emerson Goo