Jeannette Paulson Hereniko

Jeannette Paulson Hereniko (born 1940) is an American storyteller, film producer, community organizer, and cultural advocate. She is best known for founding the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF), and for her promotion of Asia-Pacific and Indigenous cinema. She is also known for her award-winning films including The Land Has Eyes.

Early life and education Jeannette Lee Butts was born on May 23, 1940 and was raised in Portland, Oregon. In 1958, she graduated from Jefferson High School. She earned a Bachelor of General Studies (BGS) with a major in education from Chaminade University in Honolulu, and a Master's degree (MA) in American Studies from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa in 1984, with a focus on the American reception of Asian cinema.

Career From 1970 to 1975, Hereniko served as "Storyteller in the Schools" for the Southern Oregon Regional Educational District. After relocating to Hawai'i in 1975, she held a similar position as a Storyteller in the Schools with the State of Hawai'i Department of Education from 1975 to 1978.

In 1976, she joined Hawai'i's Department of Education's Educational Television (ETV) program as a production assistant and later became a producer/writer. While there, she wrote and directed the documentary Taro Tales, with cultural guidance from Eddie Kamae and music by the Sons of Hawai'i.

Separately from her work at ETV, she co-produced and co-wrote The 'Āina Remains, an independent, community-based video created in collaboration with the Nuʻuanu-Punchbowl Neighborhood Board and funded by the Hawai'i Committee for the Humanities. One notable scene reenacts Queen Lili'uokalani's garden club gathering flowers in Uluhaimalama, the queen's garden.

Raising local financing and gathering a volunteer staff, Hereniko launched the first Hawaii International film Festival on November 1, 1981. and in 1990, the festival became an independent nonprofit organization separate from the East-West Center. Under her leadership, HIFF developed into a major platform for cross-cultural dialogue and a showcase for films from Asia and the Pacific.

In 1996, she was appointed by Dr. Elizabeth Daley of the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center for Communication to incubate a digital database of Asia-Pacific films. That project became the foundation for AsiaPacificFilms.com,

The Land Has Eyes was filmed in 2000 on the island of Rotuma, where Vilsoni Hereniko was born and raised. With the exception of Māori actress Rena Owen and one other actor, the cast was composed entirely of first-time Rotuman performers, most of whom had never seen a film. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, won Best Feature Film at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, screened in film festivals and commercial theaters around the world and was Fiji's official 2004 Academy Awards submission for Best International Feature Film. In 2007, she was named to the nomination council for the inaugural Asia Pacific Screen Awards in Brisbane, Australia.

Personal life Hereniko was previously married to G. William Paulson with whom she has three children. In 1997, she married playwright and professor Vilsoni Hereniko. Together they have a blended family that includes seven grandsons.

While raising her children in southern Oregon, Hereniko (then Paulson) began storytelling at the Jackson County Library.

She also wrote and performed two autobiographical one-woman shows, Wild Wisdom, which she performed in Hawai'i, California, and Oregon.

Awards and recognition Busan International Film Festival Korean Cinema Award for lifetime promotion of Korean cinema (2009) Hawai'i International Film Festival Legacy Award Zonta Southern Oregon Woman of the Year (1973) Honolulu YWCA Most Outstanding Woman in Arts and Humanities (1984) Digital Business of the Year (2009)