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Italian Film Festival Returns to HoMA Nov. 13–15, With Wine and Breadshop Focaccia for Every Ticket Holder

By Oahu Local Published 3 min read

A man in a dark suit leaps in midair with his arms spread wide along a paved path beside a low wall, with apartment buildings and trees behind him.
A scene from “Nonostante (Feeling Better),” which closes the 2026 Italian Film Festival Honolulu on Sunday, Nov. 15. Image: Courtesy of Honolulu Museum of Art (via Aloha State Daily)

Here’s a date-night idea with a little something extra. The 2026 Italian Film Festival Honolulu is back at the Honolulu Museum of Art’s Doris Duke Theatre for three nights, Friday, Nov. 13, through Sunday, Nov. 15. It’s the festival’s second year, and this time everyone with a ticket gets the aperitivo.

The festival is a collaboration between the Friends of Italy Society of Hawaiʻi, the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) and the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco. According to Aloha State Daily, HoMA provides the theater and the San Francisco institute pays for the rights to bring the films to Hawaiʻi. All three films are in Italian with English subtitles.

New this year: wine and focaccia for everyone

Previously, the reception with wine and focaccia was open only to Friends of Italy members, as a separate ticketed event. This year it’s open to all moviegoers, with focaccia from Kaimukī’s Breadshop, Aloha State Daily reported. The Friends of Italy schedule lists an aperitivo for all ticket holders at 6:15 p.m. on Friday and 6 p.m. on Saturday, ahead of the 7 p.m. screenings.

“Italian cinema is not Hollywood,” Iolanda Marinelli, president of the Friends of Italy Society of Hawaiʻi, told Aloha State Daily. “It’s really about relationships with people.”

The lineup

Friday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m.: “La vita va così (Life Is Life).” The opening-night comedy is set in Sardinia, where a stubborn shepherd refuses to make way for a proposed luxury resort, according to HoMA. Retired University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa professor Christina Bacchilega will lead the post-film discussion, per Aloha State Daily.

Saturday, Nov. 14, 7 p.m.: “Gioia mia (Sweetheart).” In this Sicilian coming-of-age film, a sassy young boy bonds with his elderly aunt. HoMA says it earned director Margherita Spampinato the Kering Emerging Talent Award at Cannes this year. Sarah Fang, HoMA’s theater manager and programmer, told Aloha State Daily the film “hits really hard the nostalgia trap” for anyone remembering their childhood. Sicily-born, Hawaiʻi-based photographer Laura La Monaca will lead the discussion afterward.

Sunday, Nov. 15, 5:30 p.m.: “Nonostante (Feeling Better).” The festival closes with a romantic dramedy in which the souls of people in a coma have a lively time in a world of magical realism, per HoMA. HoMA and the Friends of Italy both list a 5:30 p.m. start, which is earlier than the 7 p.m. time in Aloha State Daily’s story, so plan on 5:30 p.m.

Tickets

  • General admission: $15, sold on the HoMA website
  • Discounts (in person only): $12 for Friends of Italy and HoMA members, $5 for college students and free for ages 18 and under. The Friends of Italy say discounted tickets are only available in person at HoMA with a valid ID and proof of membership or enrollment, not online or by phone.
  • Refunds: The organizers say tickets are non-refundable unless the program can’t be delivered.

Why go

Fang told Aloha State Daily that some of these films “you definitely won’t be able to see anywhere else” and that she hopes people enjoy watching together in a theater, an experience she said has faded in the streaming era. Add a glass of wine and focaccia from Kaimukī’s Breadshop before the lights go down, and it makes an easy, affordable night out in town.

Know before you go

  • Where: Doris Duke Theatre, Honolulu Museum of Art, 900 S. Beretania St., Honolulu
  • When: Fri. Nov. 13 and Sat. Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. (aperitivo 6:15 and 6 p.m.); Sun. Nov. 15 at 5:30 p.m.
  • Parking: See HoMA’s parking information on its website
  • Language: Italian with English subtitles

Want more for the weekend? See our things to do on Oʻahu this week.

Sources

Filed under Honolulu

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