SAT 5/7 | 10 am
Hilo Palace Theater
Based on Hawaii Filmmakers Collective pitch program and sponsored by Hawaii’s Creative Industries, the Made In Hawaii Film Festival is hosting an in-person pitch event with a $1000 prize going to the winning pitch!
Pitchers will have three minutes to present their pitch and will receive immediate feedback from a panel of judges.
After the winner has been announced, we will break into a networking event for pitchers as well as any audience members who would like to participate. Attendance is FREE!
Pitch application deadline: Friday 4/29
Pitch Requirements
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Complete the pitch submission form (see link above)
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Pitches should be for short films only – no feature length projects
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Pitches can be up to three minutes long
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Pitch should clearly outline the concept and how you would use the $1000 prize
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Pitches will be presented verbally at the event – no decks or visual aids
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Films in any stage of completion (pre-production, production, or post postproduction) are eligible to compete.
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We will accept up to 6 pitches. If we receive more than 6 entries, the finalists will be selected by the MIHFF and HFC Executive Team based on the log line, treatment, and bio.
If you don’t have a pitch, but are interested in joining a production crew, attend the event to watch the pitches and participate in the networking event that follows.
WINNER BENEFITS:
- $1000.00 lump sum to complete your film
- Free submission for the film that was pitched to enter in the 2023 Made in Hawaii Film Festival
AARON KANDELL
Aaron and his identical twin brother Jordan are screenwriters and producers who were born, raised, and still reside in Hawai‘i. They are best known for their work on Disney Animation’s Moana and the 2018 feature Adrift.
Operating under their banner Twin Ink, the Kbros have a number of notable upcoming projects including Supernormal, a superhero comedy for Netflix starring Josh Gad, Luke Evans, and Daisy Ridley; Sidekicks, a reimagining of classic fairy tales through the eyes of the heroes’ underappreciated helpers for Paramount; and The Muppet Man, a biopic of Jim Henson for Disney.
In TV, the twins sold Swift-Harding, an original family adventure series with Chris Columbus attached for Netflix; and Capitol, a limited series centered on the Congressional Page cocaine scandal of the early 1980s with Peter Farrelly to direct for HBO Max. They are currently writing an original film for Apple Studios and legendary director Robert Zemeckis.
The twins are sons of ‘Iolani and graduates of USC. As former teachers, they feel a responsibility to aid, as mentors and advocates, in the educational advancement of emerging local talent.
MEET THE JUDGES
JEFF ORIG
Jeff Orig is a writer, director, producer, and cinematographer based in Honolulu. His boutique production company, Orig Media, focuses on corporate and nonprofit work. He won two Pele Awards for best local commercial as well as Best Cinematography at MIHFF 2019. He recently completed a documentary web series for the Smithsonian. Jeff was also tapped by PlayBuilders Hawaii and Mission Houses Museum to direct a feature film adaptation of their play, Open Your Hearts Wide. His third full length feature film, a comedy called Waikiki PD Part 2, will be released summer of 2022. Waikiki PD is a long running series with awards from Catalyst, L.A. WebFest, and many more. One of his Youtube channels has over 55,000 subscribers. In addition, he is a three time graduate fellow of the Creative Lab Hawaii for directing, producing, and web series. He was a finalist for the Sundance New Voices Lab and Sundance Feature Development Track. He recently completed Cohort 3 of XLR8HI’s PreX. His mission is to help give Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders a bigger voice in traditional media.
ZOE EISENBERG
As MIHFF's Executive Director, Zoe is a community-focused writer, director and producer who creates stories and spaces in and about her home on the big island of Hawai’i.
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As a filmmaker, Zoë is a 2021 ‘Ohina Film Lab Fellow and the recipient of the 2021 ‘Ohina Greenlight award, as well as a 2021 Hawai’i Wahine in Filmmaking Fellow, 2020 Creative Lab Hawai’i Directing Fellow, and 2019 Creative Lab Hawai’i Producing Fellow.
An active member of both Film Fatales and Women in Film, her work has played on PBS, Hawaiian Airlines and shown theatrically across the state of Hawai’i. As a screenwriter, Zoë has placed in the Page Awards and the Austin Film Festival Script Competition.
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Zoë is also the co-founder of Aerial Arts Hawai'i, an aerial circus collective and training space located in downtown Hilo.