Hawai`i film premieres at Comic Con

Hawaii Integrated Productions and Memuneh Productions announced that their latest project, Juventud, will make its world premiere at Comic Con in San Diego on July 21, 2017. Written, produced and filmed on location in Hawaii in December of 2016, Juventud is an action/fantasy short film about a Spanish Conquistador who, on the last leg of his journey, battles through the South American jungle as he inches closer to his mythical destination. This film has already begun to grab the attention of industry professionals and will begin the festival circuit in July 2017.

Courtesy: Hawaii Integrated Productions and Memuneh Productions

Producers Connie Alicino and Moumen El Hajii have several film projects under their belts, having collaborated on a feature film called Secondhand Hearts and a short film entitled Everything. They continue to seek out projects to produce, enabling filmmakers and writers to bring their projects from inception to fruition.

Courtesy: Hawaii Integrated Productions and Memuneh Production

From the very beginning, Juventud was a small piece of a much larger story. Director/writer Austin Everett had already started to form a story that spanned over multiple seasons, continents, and years, long before principal photography on the short film ever started. It was in a production office that Everett was struck with the idea that became the story of Juventud.

Nicholas Masciangelo, while working on a production with Everett, asked Everett to take a photo of him wearing a prop helmet. Framing up the photo, Everett distinctly remembers thinking, “I have to make something with this guy.” Alicino and El Hajii teamed up with long time collaborators Sight and Sound Hawaii and less than three months later, post production wrapped and the film was complete.

At the present time, a television pilot script and a Season 1 outline has been written, detailing the journey of the young boy, Leonel, who on his quest into the New World, grows up to be the ruthless conquistador that appears in Juventud.

COMIC CON INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

Friday, July 21

8:25 pm – 8:45 pm

Grand Ballroom 3&4 (San Diego Marriott Marquis)

Author(s) on this Post

Diane Ako

Peace of mind By Diane Ako I like to reflect on life. Sometimes it’s philosophically. Sometimes it’s humorously. For all its beauty, life is far too difficult a journey to take alone. You need the support and connection with others to help carry you along the way. Writing brings me that connection– within and without. It clarifies my thoughts and feelings. It helps me reach out to others for advice, wisdom, or feedback. Your thoughts become your actions. Your actions become you. A wise yogi- Patanjali- said, “Speak what is true. Speak what is pleasant.” Let’s speak of things pleasant to one another and seek some peace of mind along the way. ABOUT Diane Ako joined Hawaii: In Real Life in October 2016. She likes being part of a community of local bloggers – people who like writing and sharing, like she does. Ako is an anchor/ reporter at Island News (KITV4 – ABC) in Honolulu. She previously anchored and reported at KHON2 (FOX) and KHNL (NBC), and at stations in California, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. She freelance writes for NMG Network's magazines. In between news jobs, in 2017, she launched and ran her own p.r. company, Diane Ako PR. From 2010-2014, she headed the public relations department at Halekulani Corporation, which oversees luxury resort Halekulani and boutique hotel Waikiki Parc. She’s been blogging since 2009 – before Hawaii: IRL, she wrote for The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the state’s largest daily newspaper, where her stories garnered a dozen journalism awards and an Emmy nomination. Ako has a BA in Communications from Menlo College and an MA in Political Science from University of Hawaii at Manoa. She volunteers as a board member of the Honolulu Gay & Lesbian Cultural Foundation, a Shinto shrine maiden at Daijingyu Temple, a citizen-scientist studying shrimp, and a yoga teacher at a senior center.

Diane Ako has 274 posts and counting. See all posts by Diane Ako

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