A Honolulu version of "Inside the Actor's Studio," complete with tea and scone service, will be held at 4 p.m. Friday in the new Cupola events theater on the second floor of the new Honolulu Design Center, 1250 Kapi'olani Blvd.

Wimal Dissanayake, Asian film scholar and professor at the Academy of Creative Media at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, will take on the role of Jim Lipton, the host of the Bravo series. He will interview Malaysian filmmaker Yasmin Ahmad. In February, her feature film "Mushkin" won the Berlin International Film Festival's Grand Prix in the Generation competition.

"This event is a rare opportunity for international cinema fans in Honolulu to personally meet and hear a very engaging and thoughtful filmmaker who also happens to be Muslim and female," said Jeannette Paulson Hereniko, founder of the Hawaii International Film Festival and an award-winning indie film producer. Hereniko also is president of NETPAC/USA, a non-profit organization devoted to promoting Asia and Pacific cinema, which is mounting the Ahmad event.

Chuck Boller, director of the Hawaii International Film Festival, will show clips from the festival's upcoming Spring Showcase.

Admission to the Ahmad session is $25 for the public, $23 for NETPAC/USA members. To reserve space, write to Hereniko at jphmovies@aol.com.

Ahmad will be in Honolulu to attend the screening of her works at the Doris Duke Theatre of the Honolulu Academy of Arts April 13 through 15, when the academy presents "Yasmin Ahmad Retrospective: Contemporary Malaysian Cinema. The screenings are free; Ahmad will appear at Q&A sessions April 14 and 15. For information, call 956-2688.

Reach Wayne Harada at wharada@honoluluadvertiser.com.