Hawaii's first Korean independent film showcase opens at the Honolulu Museum of Art's Doris Duke Theatre from September 25 through September 27, bringing nine award-winning films, four features and five shorts, alongside a live cinematic concert and cultural celebrations built around Chuseok weekend. Called Intimate Korea 2026, the program aims to introduce audiences to personal stories from Korea that go beyond the mainstream pop culture exports most familiar to American viewers.
The showcase is presented by the Honolulu Museum of Art and Now Production Films, and as Hawaii News Now reports, it kicks off with HoMA Nights, a museum-wide Chuseok celebration beginning at 5 p.m. on September 25 that features food, culture, and live performances. Guest programmer Jinyoung Lee, who serves as executive producer at Now Production Films, said audiences can experience Korea up close through the independent films featured in the lineup, according to the same report. Doris Duke Theatre programmer Sarah Fang added that the festival is intended to highlight independent cinema in Korea rather than the country's more widely known mainstream exports, per the outlet's account.
Opening Night Documentary Explores Korean Chefs in New York
The festival's opening film, screening after HoMA Nights kicks off, is Super Dining, a 48-minute 2026 documentary from director Yunjung Lee, according to HIKMEDIA. The screening includes an in-person Q&A with the director. Also on the lineup is Words from the Wind, a 100-minute 2025 documentary by Hee Yang that traces Korean popular music through composer Hee Gap Kim, the outlet notes.
Five of the short films in the program were selected through the CJ Cultural Foundation's STORY UP short-film production support program, according to HIKMEDIA. All screenings and events take place at the Doris Duke Theatre, a 280-seat theatre presenting independent and international films, according to Go Hawaii.
Aloha & Arirang Honors Hawaii's Picture Brides
The festival's centerpiece cultural event is Aloha & Arirang, a one-night-only program on September 26 at 4:30 p.m. that was inspired by the documentary Songs of Love from Hawaiʻi, which chronicles the history of the islands' earliest Korean immigrants, per Hawaii News Now. The program features a live cinematic concert with a string quartet, including violinists Yuseon Nam and Michael Lim, and veteran South Korean actress Su-jeong Ye is set to perform in the show.
Ye, who played picture bride Im Ok-sun in Songs of Love from Hawaiʻi, is also scheduled to hold an in-person audience talk on September 27 following a screening of People and Meat, according to HIKMEDIA. Hawaii News Now reports that journalist Annalisa Burgos will moderate an artist talk following Aloha & Arirang. The program draws directly on Hawaii's own immigration history: early Korean immigration to the United States officially began on January 13, 1903, when the steamship SS Gaelic arrived in Honolulu harbor carrying 102 Korean immigrants recruited to work on sugarcane plantations, according to EBSCO. Over the next two years, nearly 7,500 Koreans went to Hawaii, followed by about 8,000 Korean women who went to the United States as mail-order brides between 1903 and 1924, per the Korean JoongAng Daily.
Ticket Prices and a Guest Programmer's Local Roots
General admission to Aloha & Arirang costs $25, with a $10 youth ticket price for those 18 and under, while individual film screenings are priced at $15 general admission and $5 for youth, according to Hawaii News Now. Lee, who moved to Hawaii in 2005 after working as a local journalist, serves as an executive producer at Now Production Films and directed the 2021 documentary Words of Wisdom from the Rainbow State before creating Songs of Love from Hawaiʻi, according to the Center for Korean Studies at UH Mānoa.
The showcase arrives as HoMA prepares for a new chapter under new leadership, with Kailua native and former Georgia Museum director David Odo having taken over as executive director on September 1, guiding the institution toward its 2027 centennial celebration. Intimate Korea also introduces audiences to independent filmmakers beyond commercial cinema.
