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

History

Businessman Jack Law founded the non-profit Honolulu Gay & Lesbian Cultural Foundation (HGLCF) in 1997 as an umbrella organization for the Adam Baran Honolulu Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, now known as the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival (HRFF). Prior to establishment of the non-profit, the film festival (started in 1989), 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 501(c)3. 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 (around early August to late September). In-person film screenings are scheduled throughout a three-day weekend, starting on a Friday (which includes an opening reception in the evening) and ending that Sunday (with a red carpet award ceremony shortly after the final screening). 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 (an LGBTQIA+ filmmaker that has excelled in their career in the film industry), the Jack Law Award (a person who best embodies the HGLCF’s mission), the Rainbow Award (a film that intermixes LGBTQIA+ culture and introduces a new audience to HRFF), and the Phred Love Award (awarded exclusively to recognize Hawaiʻi filmmakers).

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Sept 20-22, 2024

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September 8-10, 2023

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October 21-23, 2022 The festival was held in-person for the first time since the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.

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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.

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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.

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Aug 8-18, 2019

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Aug 9-19, 2018

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Aug 10-19, 2017

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June 10-15, 2014

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June 4-9, 2013

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May 31-June 3, 2012

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May 12-15, 2011

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May 27-30, 2010

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May 21-24, 2009

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May 22-25, 2008

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May 25-28, 2006

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May 26-29, 2005

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May 27-30, 2004

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May 30-June 2, 2002