I was a storyteller before I knew storytelling could become a life. As a child in Portland, Oregon, I listened to my grandmother’s stories. By eleven, I was telling stories of my own. And I kept on going.
I became involved in children’s festivals, education, and film. I helped create the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival and spent fifteen years building it into a place where audiences could discover stories from Hawaiʻi, Asia, and the Pacific.
I produced films. I worked with filmmakers. I traveled. I made mistakes. I fell in love. I raised a family. I started over.
And eventually, I returned to what had been with me all along: telling stories.
The wisdom
of the world is inside
the stories we share.
The Children’s Festival
One of the experiences closest to my heart began in Southern Oregon.
In 1963, I co-founded the Storytelling Guild, and in 1964 we established the Children's Festival in Jacksonville, Oregon. I served as the director for the first seven years. What began as an idea became something much bigger than I could have imagined.
The festival recently celebrated its 60th year. More than 400,000 children have experienced storytelling, arts and imagination through the festival over those six decades. Four generations of volunteers have participated.
I recently returned for the 60th anniversary — and I brought four generations of my own family with me.
That was one of the highlights of my life.
A masterful film can part even the darkest curtains, a transformative experience, a moment when the healing power of cinema can reach across borders and remind us of our shared humanity.
The Hawaii International Film Festival
In 1981, Jeannette Hereniko launched the first Hawaiʻi International Film Festival (HIFF) while working at the East West Center, raising local financing and assembling volunteers.
She directed the festival from 1981 to 1996, during which it grew from a modest program of seven films from six countries (viewed by 5,000 attendees in its inaugural year), into a major international platform showcasing cinema from Asia, the Pacific, and Hawaiʻi.
Under her leadership, HIFF became an independent nonprofit organization in 1990, separate from the East-West Center.
The festival is now one of the premier cinematic events in the Pacific, annually attracting over 70,000 film enthusiasts.
