Filmmakers in Hawaii: the next Sundance Generation
Sundance NativeLabs fellows Bryson Kainoa Chun, Hale Mawae, and Kari Noe talk story at The Surfjack.The Surfjack Hotel & Swim Club hosted a talk story session with the next generation of Native Hawaiian filmmakers.
Click here to read the full article about it by Hawaii Magazine editor, Matthew DeKneef.
Here is an excerpt:
What does an authentic Hawaiian narrative look like on the big screen? Three Honolulu-based filmmakers, with the guidance of the Sundance Institute, hope to show audiences someday in a movie theater near you.
Filmmaker Bryson Kainoa Chun squints at the camera screen. Inside the frame, a young Hawaiian man races from a dilapidated Hilo house in the pouring rain, hops onto a moped clutching an obscured object wrapped in ti leaves and speeds down the gravel road. As the vehicle vanishes from sight, throwing rocks up in its wake, Chun shouts “Cut!” A small, but ardent team of production assistants quickly enters the shot to set it back up again for another take.
This isn’t Hilo on Hawaii Island; it’s Nanakuli on Oahu. It isn’t actually raining, but the work of a water hose creatively jerry-rigged into the branches of a mango tree. And, this also isn’t some gritty, rundown house, but a humble Hawaiian homestead property, a home belonging to the family of the filmmaker’s wife. It’s the makings of his latest movie, but it’s about as real as you can get to a version of the Hawaii many call home, and one he hopes to share on screen.