Charles "Chuck" Boller

Boller died on 5 November 2026 in Rochester, New York, aged 80. HIFF announced his death on 6 November, and the Honolulu Star-Advertiser published an obituary on 15 November. No cause of death was made public. He is survived by his sister, Cindy Stanton, and three nephews, and a private celebration of life is to be held on the mainland after the new year.

Charles Boller graduated from Alfred University in western New York before earning his law degree at Boston University School of Law. From 1979 to 1991 he served as executive director and general counsel of the American Copyright Council. His work brought him into contact with National Geographic Television, and a business trip with National Geographic TV to Hawai'i led him to relocate to O'ahu.

Boller joined the Hawai'i International Film Festival as administrator in 1990, when it was a free admission cultural event and special project of the East-West Center led by founding director Jeannette Paulson. By his own account he held practically every position in the organisation before becoming executive director in April 2000.

He acted that year to make HIFF an internationally recognised film festival and guided its evolution into the independent nonprofit organisation that continues today. He championed the reopening of the historic Palace Theater in Hilo in 1997, alongside Roger Ebert and Quentin Tarantino, as part of an effort to bring cinema beyond Honolulu. He also established a sister festival relationship with the Shanghai International Film Festival, which extended into educational exchanges between Shanghai University and the University of Hawai'i's Academy for Creative Media.

In December 2013 HIFF announced that he would step down as executive director on 1 January 2014, after 23 of the festival's 33 years, with deputy director Robert Lambeth succeeding him. As director emeritus he concentrated on fundraising and the establishment of a HIFF foundation.

Boller called O'ahu home for more than three decades. Beyond the festival he helped organise annual book sales to benefit Hawai'i's libraries and worked on executive committees with Hawai'i Public Television. Colleagues remembered him as a one of a kind character known for his warmth and humour. He later returned to Rochester, New York, to be with family.

HIFF described Boller as the bridge between two defining eras of the festival, and said his legacy extends beyond the programmes, partnerships and milestones he helped establish to the relationships he cultivated and the doors he opened. He received a Legacy Award for film in 2010.