Thu, Jul 25
|Honokaa Peopleʻs Theatre
HŌʻEA 2024: Pacific Film Showcase
A selection of Oceania films to compliment Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea celebrations at Paʻauilo School, Film Curator ʻĀina Paikai (Director - Hawaiian Soul) will be in attendance on Sat!
Time & Location
Jul 25, 2024, 5:00 PM – 6:50 PM
Honokaa Peopleʻs Theatre, 45-3574 Mamane St, Honokaa, HI 96727, USA
About the Event
Synopsis by Film Curator ʻĀina Paikai (Director - Hawaiian Soul), who will be in attendance on Sat for Q&A!
For the 7th year of our native showcase, we’re riding the @festpachawaii wave and sharing films and new media from all across the Pacific. As always, we are in celebration of @lahoihoiea, and in this years festivities we have a centralized theme in the demilitarization of our indigenous lands and communities. Come join us for entertainment and education as we expand to 3 different islands; July 25th on Oʻahu at grounds of the The Nation of Hawaiʻi at 5:30p, July 25-27 Moku o Keawe at the Honokaʻa People’s Theatre 5-7p, and July 28th at 1p on Kauaʻi - Kauai Community College. Mahalo to our supporters @thehawaiipeoplesfund and @purple_maia.
1hr 52min. Mostly PG, Parental Discretion advised for Mature Themes/Violence in a couple of the short films.
HōʻEA
Oceania Film Showcase
In celebration of the 181st La HoiHoi Ea
Honokaʻa People's Theatre
July 25-27, 5pm
PROGRAM:
1 Mitchel Merrick, Hawaii: Kūkini Trailer, 1 min
At the turn of the 18th century in the Kingdoms of Hawai'i, one man must outrun a mob of warriors to return to his family and deliver a message that could change the course of an ongoing war. An original story and film by Paula Fuga Written for the screen and directed by Mitchel Merrick Produced by Gerard Elmore and Christopher Kahunahana
2 Micheal Johnathan, Aotearoa: Ka Whawhai Tonu, Trailer for Feature Film, 3 mins
Amidst the chaos of the infamous 1864 siege of Ōrākau in the Waikato, two rangatahi must seize command of their destinies, and fight for their freedom. Facing insurmountable odds, Māori defiantly stand their ground against the relentless advance of colonial forces in a struggle for sovereignty. Presented in te reo Māori, this ambitious historical drama tells the story of a pivotal moment in the Aotearoa land wars from a Māori perspective.
3 Micheal Inouye, Hawaii: Hoʻi Hoʻi Mākua, Teaser for Feature Film 6 mins
4 Lahaina Film Team, Maui, Hawaiʻi: Rising from the Ashes, Teaser for Feature Film Documentary
5 mins
5 Ruben Carillo, Hawaiʻi: E Ola Maui, Music VIdeo, 5 mins
"E Ola Maui" is a brand new song that encapsulates the heart and spirit of Maui. Crafted by the island's top songwriters in conjunction with Hawaii filmmakers, this musical masterpiece is a symbol of hope and resilience, brought to life by a star-studded ensemble of musicians including Henry Kapono, Brother Noland, Amy Hanaiali'i, Tavana, Kala'e Parish, Kimie, Kalenaku, Josh Kahula, Cody Pueo Pata, and more. Through its captivating melody and evocative lyrics, the song pays homage to the enduring strength and beauty of the people of Maui. "E Ola Maui" serves as a reminder of the unbreakable spirit of this cherished community, offering a story of resilience and a ray of hope.
6 Dan Lin and Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Marshall Islands: Anointed Short Film / Poem, 7 mins
Anointed by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and Dan Lin is a poem recital/video that addresses the American nuclear testing legacy in the Marshall Islands that occurred between 1946 to 1958 in Bikini and Enewetak Atolls. The artist’s words of resilience and healing are uttered as she travels across the northeastern atolls of her vast island nation. The climax of the short film takes place when the artist, holding white coral stones (a Marshallese funeral ritual) stands on top of the massive concrete dome erected on Runit Island in Enewetak Atoll to contain 73,000 square meters of radioactive waste—only a small fraction of the debris generated by the nuclear tests, the rest of which was never cleaned up. Today, scientific surveys have proven that this dome is leaking radioactive materials into the ocean. To this day, the Marshallese people are suffering the consequences of nuclear testing, through cancers and genetic illnesses caused by radiation, and irreversible damage to the ecosystem.
7 Nathan Fitch, Marshall Islands: In Exile Short Documentary, 11 Mins
A short film exploring the US nuclear legacy in the Pacific through the lens of members of the Marshallese community in Arkansas. Moved from their islands by the US for a series of nuclear tests in Bikini Atoll commencing in 1946, these Pacific Islanders remain in exile 78 years later.
8 Tumeli Tuqota Jr, Fiji: Soli Bula Animation 7 Mins
In an alternate reality Fiji where tradition and culture was never eroded by colonialism, a new Drua (ship) is about to be put to sea and will demand a steep toll for the final stage of its launch.
9 Tiare Ribeaux, Hawaiʻi: Pōʻele Wai (As The Water Darkens) Short Narrative Film, 18 Mins
A weaver experiences a transformation when she realizes her drinking water has been poisoned by fuel leaking into O'ahu's watersheds. Weaving practices, creation stories, a mysterious creature, and the mundane come together to reveal the horrors that lie underneath our daily lives and bring them to the surface. In a poetic homage to our sacred waters, Pō'ele Wai combines magical realism, dark fantasy and horror within a classical narrative to tell a visceral story of the effects of poisoning of our bodies and our water - and their interconnectedness as extensions of our ancestral land. It also aims to bring awareness to the Kapūkakī / Red Hill crisis on O'ahu.
10 Micro Child / Nihi Indigenous Media, Guåhan: Protectors Anthem Music VIdeo, 4 Mins
PROTECTORS ANTHEM is a uniting call to our sacred obligations as protectors across the Marianas and Micronesia, a reminder of the rich legacies that we carry. As our homelands face further destruction from rapid militarization, this song was written to root us in the beauty of our islands and people, in the lineage of land and water protectors who uphold our future.
11Dakota Camacho, Guåhan, Låguas: Mali'e' • Sinangan • Ma Kånnai Film Poem, 5 Mins
12 Dakota Camacho Guåhan, Låguas: ETAK - An Unconventional Micronesian Navigation Chant
Film Poem, 4 Mins
My family taught me to plot our course to home through building beautiful relationships to spaces, places, and kin. Ináfa’maolek is the energy that flows from our cultural practices. I endeavor to understand my relationship to being a good human by triangulating my relationship to the peoples, languages, cultural practices, and lands where I have experienced inágofli’e & ináguaiya. This is an [un]traditional Micronesian navigation chant. Etak (pronounced Eh-tack) loosely translates as moving islands, a form of triangulation and is a Micronesian seafaring technology, used in relationship to understanding the ocean-going vessel’s relationship to the movement of space and time. Etak is built upon the ethos in Micronesia that the canoe is stable and the universe moves around the canoe, this is a vessel for traveling through space and time, through the world as an Indigenous person who is of a global community yet from a specific place.ce.
13 Scott Kekama Amona, Hawaiʻi: E Malama Pono, Willy Boy, Short Narrative Film, 17 Mins
Native Hawaiian Honolulu Police Department officer William "Willy Boy" Kupihea and his partner Leonard Akina are sent in to evict the Native Hawaiian residents of a settlement deemed “illegal” by the State of Hawai'i, but when Kupihea discovers a little girl hiding in an abandoned truck at the last dwelling is his cousin's daughter, he has to choose between what is legally right versus what is culturally pono. As Native Hawaiian land struggles continue to escalate in Hawaiʻi and in Indigenous communities worldwide, E Mālama Pono, Willy Boy hopes to create a dialogue to question how the current reality might be shifted to create a more positive change for Native Hawaiians and other Indigenous communities.
14 Tiare Ribeaux + De Andre Makakoa, Hawaii: How to Build a Nation: The Bumpy Kanahele Story and The Nation of Hawaiʻi (WIP) Work in Progress - Short Documentary, 15 Mins
“How to Build A Nation” is a short WIP documentary that follows the rise of the Nation of Hawai’i through Bumpy Kanahele and his extended family - from the occupation of Makapu‘u Point on O‘ahu in 1987 to the formation of the Kupuna Council and the Apology Law in 1993 and the reclamation of their lands thereafter through the establishment of the Pu'uhonua ʻo Waimanalo, and the formation of the Nation of Hawaiʻi. Through the lens of President Pu’uhonua “Bumpy” Kanahele, and his nephew Vice President Brandon Maka’awa’awa, the audience will see and hear the work it took to “build the Nation”. This story will chronicle the past, present and future of the Nation of Hawaiʻi presenting a bold, unyielding stance at attaining sovereignty and a deeply hopeful look into the future of Hawaiʻi.
15 Nicole Naone, Hawaii: MTV for AAPI: Hawaiians, Unite, Music Video, 1 Min