HŌʻEA 2024: Pacific Film Showcase

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