Showtimes: Saturday, October 6 at 11:10am
and Sunday, October 7 at 8:20pm

Awards: Awards of the Japanese Academy - Best Director/Best Film/Best Screenplay/Best Supporting Actress/ Most Popular Film, Blue Ribbon Awards - Best Actress/Best Film/Best Supporting Actress, Hochi Film Awards - Best Film/Best Supporting Actress, Kinema Junpo Awards - Best Film/Best Supporting Actress/Best Director, Mainichi Film Concours - Best Art Direction/Best Sound/Best Supporting Actress, Nikkan Sports Film Awards - Best Actress/ Best Film/Best New Talent/Best Supporting Actress, Yokohama Film Festival - Best Actress

It is 1965 and the closure of the local coal mine threatens the livelihood of a small town in northern Japan. Perhaps the local hot springs could be a tourist attraction? Just bring in some palm trees, train the local girls to do the hula and sell the town as a Hawaiian vacation. But restrained, proper Japanese girls don’t take naturally to the hula, or so it appears. And their parents don’t like them dancing, either. However, a few of them persist in their lessons and what began as economic necessity soon transforms into creativity and great entertainment. Needless to say, the girls and their town will never be the same.  Like Billy Elliott, HULA GIRLS shows the transformative power of dance in a landscape of economic hardship. HULA GIRLS was Japan’s official entry for Best Foreign Film in the 2006 Oscars. ~ Francie Noyes

Principal Cast: Etsushi Toyokawa, Ittoku Kishibe, Shizuyo Yamazaki,
Yasuko Matsuyuki, Yu Aoi

Producer: Hitomi Ishihara
Cinematographer: Hideo Yamamoto
Editor: Tsuyoshi Imai
Music: Jake Shimabukuro

Official Website: www.hula-girl.jp/index2.html