The Hawaii European Cinema Film Festival honors stars and leaders of the silver screen

Movie producers, film actors and big-time dealmakers are being honored for their achievements and potential achievements as a special part of the hoopla at the 2017 Hawaii European Cinema Film Festival. Three days of film screenings begin today and continue through Sunday. Award presentations will be made March 31 during the Hawaii European Cinema Film Festival Awards Gala at the Moana Surfrider hotel.

The husband-and-wife duo of Pierce and Keely Shaye Brosnan will be recipients of the Vanguard Award.

Pierce Brosnan will be known forever for his portrayal of James Bond in the box-office hits “Goldeneye,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “The World Is Not Enough” and “Die Another Day.” Brosnan’s fans are anticipating the April debut of his next project, the AMC television series “The Son,” in which Brosnan stars in the multigenerational story of a charismatic and ruthless Texas cattle rancher whose business practices were shaped by his experiences as a youthful captive of the Comanches.

Keely Shaye Brosnan is co-director and co-producer of “Poisoning Paradise,” a provocative documentary attacking pesticide use and field research on genetically engineered plants (sometimes referred to as GMOs) on Kauai. A screening of the film at the festival is sold out.

Internationally recognized film icon Nancy Kwan is this year’s recipient of the Dr. Lawrence K.W. Tseu Lifetime Achievement Award. Kwan’s film debut in the title role of “The World of Suzie Wong,” followed by her portrayal of Linda Lo in the Hollywood film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Broadway hit “Flower Drum Song,” made her Hollywood’s bridge between Asian-American film pioneer Anna May Wong, who died in 1961, and the generations of Asian-American actors who have followed her to success in films and on television.

“To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey,” a 2010 film documenting Kwan’s life from her childhood in Hong Kong to the present, is being screened Sunday.

Shep Gordon, coined “Supermensch” in a 2014 biographical film by that name, released an autobiography, “They Call Me Supermensch: A Backstage Pass to the Amazing Worlds of Film, Food and Rock ’n’ Roll,” in 2016. He’s this year’s recipient of the Maverick Award for his creative impact on the music, film and food industries, and for his social contributions as a philanthropist.

Beijing-based actor Ludi Lin, 29, will receive this year’s Rising Star Award. Hawaii can see Lin as teenage superhero Zack Taylor, aka the Black Ranger, in “Saban’s Power Rangers,” which opens in local theaters today.

Excellence in filmmaking and related areas will also be honored with the presentation of the Princess Dialta Alliata di Montreale Award for Best Film, the Hawaii Academy for Creative Media Student Scholarship, and the Sunny Dupree Family Foundation Student Film Award.

Hawaii European Cinema films screen this weekend at Ward Consolidated Theatres:

“United States of Love”

3:30 p.m. today

Set in Poland in 1990, during the downfall of the Soviet Union, four women face their own romantic obsessions and disappointments. An entry at the Berlin International Film Festival, directed by Tomasz Wasilewski. (Poland-Sweden, 2016, 1:45)

“I, Daniel Blake”

Opening Night Film

6 p.m. today

Acclaimed U.K. director Ken Loach chronicles the story of a middle-aged man who gets injured, forcing him to seek worker’s compensation. Having spent his career in construction, he’s ill-equipped to handle a recalcitrant state bureaucracy, unresponsive computer systems and other modern inconveniences. A single mother, herself in dire straits, tries to help him out. Winner of the Palme d’Or (Best Feature Film) at Cannes. (U.K., 2016, 1:40)

“I Who Only Love You”

8:30 p.m. today

Ninella, a 55-year-old woman, has loved don Mimi, but wasn’t allowed to marry him as a young woman. When her daughter gets engaged to don Mimi’s son, she gets another chance to explore romance. Directed by Marco Ponti. (Italy, 2015, 1:42)

“The Student”

12:15 p.m. Saturday

A Russian high school student becomes disillusioned and convinced that the world has been lost to evil. He develops an obsession with the Bible and Christian beliefs, challenging the morals and beliefs of adults around him, but also inspiring fundamentalism, hysteria and anti-Semitism. The dark drama, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, debuted at Cannes. (Russia, 2016, 1:58)

“The Commune”

3 p.m. Saturday

A middle-aged professional couple in 1970s Denmark — an era of social experimentation and liberation — try out communal living when they inherit a house they can’t afford. They invite both friends and random eccentrics to cohabitate with them in the sprawling house, with results both comical and heartbreaking. An entry in the Berlin International Film Festival, directed by Thomas Vinterberg. (Denmark, 2016, 1:52)

“The Workers Cup”

Centerpiece Film

6 p.m. Saturday

With Brazil’s World Cup in the past, preparations are underway for the 2022 competition in Qatar, where immigrant workers from Africa and Asia decide to have their own soccer competition. Directed by first-timer Adam Sobel; Q&A to follow with Sobel and producer in attendance. (U.K., 2017, 1:29)

“Death in Sarajevo”

8:30 p.m. Saturday

A large hotel in Sarajevo prepares for a commemoration of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the event that triggered World War I. Meanwhile, workers at the hotel prepare to strike in this satirical commentary on modern Europe, directed by Danis Tanovic. An entry in the Berlin International Film Festival. (Bosnia, 2016, 1:25)

“Julie and the Shoe Factory”

2:30 p.m. Sunday

A French variation on the “La La Land” idea, inspired by the films of Jacques Demy and Stanley Donen, this song-and-dance movie focuses on a young woman working at a luxury shoe factory who sees her financial stability threatened when plans are announced to sell the business and move production overseas. An entry at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, directed by Paul Calori and Kostia Testut. (France, 2015, 1:23)

“The Land of the Enlightened”

12:15 p.m. Sunday

After decades of war in Afghanistan have left society to erode into street gangs, one group of young Afghans harvests old Soviet mines to sell the explosives to other youth who work in a lapis lazuli mine; meanwhile, another gang controls the smuggling of gemstones through the mountains. An entry at the Sundance Film Festival, from first-time director Pieter-Jan De Pue, a former Red Cross photographer who worked in Afghanistan. (Belgium-Ireland-Netherlands-Germany, 2016, 1:24)

“To Whom It May Concern: Ka Shen’s Journey”

5 p.m. Sunday

Documentary on the life and career of festival awardee Nancy Kwan, the pioneering Eurasian actress who made her mark in “The World of Suzie Wong” and “Flower Drum Song.” Written and directed by former Warner Bros. executive Brian Jamieson. (U.S., 2010, 1:48)

“Things to Come”

Closing Night Film

7:45 p.m. Sunday

Acclaimed French actor Isabelle Huppert, an Oscar nominee for “Elle,” stars as a passionate, middle-aged philosophy teacher whose husband leaves her, forcing her to reinvent her life. An entry at the Berlin Film Festival, written and directed by Mia Hansen-Love. Huppert was recognized for her performance with the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress. (France-Germany, 2016, 1:41)