Native Hawaiian director Christopher Kahunahana puts authentic experience of Hawaiians in the spotlight

In his debut function movie, Christopher Kahunahana intertwines fashionable Hawaiian tradition with the historic generational ills of native folks residing in a post-colonial economic system.

“We need to change the dialog that individuals have surrounding Hawaii. The vacationer business has marketed, spent billions and billions of {dollars} exploiting and advertising and marketing Hawaii as a paradise for folks to come back… [Native Hawaiians] are speculated to host and entertain friends,” Kahunahana instructed ABC Information.

“It has displaced Hawaiians, so with out Hawaiians, what’s Hawaii however simply lovely seashores and sunsets?” he added.

“Waikiki,” the primary narrative function written and directed by a local Hawaiian, debuted on the City World Movie Competition in 2020. Kahunahana stated the movie is about reclaiming the Hawaiian narrative throughout an ongoing historical past of exploitation.

“With the intention to market Hawaii as a vacationer vacation spot, [non-native filmmakers of the past] needed to take away the tradition and overlay pictures of sexualization of ladies and our tradition and exoticize us and ‘different’ us,” stated Kahunahana.

“As a Kanaka Maoli, Hawaii is our house. My ancestors’ bones are right here,” he added.

Kanaka Maoli means a “actual or true individual” of Hawaii. Kahunahana stated that language issues, or as Hawaiians say “ʻŌlelo” issues, like considering critically about utilizing phrases like “mainland” for the US.

“That makes us a colony,” stated Kahunahana. “I imply one thing so simple as that may change folks’s understanding of relationships right here and I believe that’s a very good place to start out.”

He added that oftentimes non-Hawaiian filmmakers will change the which means of conventional Hawaiian phrases.

“For example, they are saying, ‘Ohana means no one will get left behind,’ which isn’t true,” stated Kahunahana. “And so as soon as they’re capable of change your language, and make folks consider your language is one thing that it isn’t, I believe that is type of one of many remaining straws.”

Watch on HULU: “Collectively As One: Celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage — A Soul of a Nation Presentation”

By means of his work, Kahunahana is altering the cinematic panorama with extra genuine storytelling about Hawaii. For starters, he stresses the significance of addressing the present psychological well being, home abuse and homelessness points inside the group, which he stated is usually intentionally hidden.

Though organizations just like the Workplace of Hawaiian Affairs and the Division of Hawaiian Homelands have made it a mandate to supply land to Native Hawaiians, Kahunahana stated this system is chronically underfunded.

“There is a technology of individuals nonetheless ready for land allotments. Individuals have to know that it’s systematic and it’s created to maintain Hawaiians from creating intergenerational wealth,” stated Kahunahana, who added that with out land, folks battle to take out loans to ship their youngsters to school. “They want folks to work on the resort as a busboy, waiter or entertainer.”

Land displacement, air pollution and suppression of Native Hawaiian voices are motifs typically threaded all through Kahunahana’s work. As a private instance, Kahunahana factors to the continued motion in Haleakala and Mauna Kea the place, throughout post-production of Waikiki, he volunteered his time to advocate the safety of pure Hawaiian land.

He was a member of a group that traveled to Mauna Kea, the tallest peak within the Pacific and occupied the land to protest the state authorities, engineers and analysis universities who plan to assemble the Thirty Meter Telescope on the mountain, which is a sacred website to Native Hawaiian folks. At one demonstration, a number of protesters have been initially arrested, which spurred additional outrage.The movie’s launch was delayed whereas Kahunahana camped on the mountain for practically six months.

“It was very emotional and it type of gave context as to why as a Kanaka Maoli filmmaker we do what we do,” stated Kahunahana. “Waikiki offers with a few of these points, however Mauna Kea was the problem within the current tense and it required all of our assist, so I used to be comfortable to contribute to that.”

In keeping with a press launch from the Thirty Meter Telescope venture, the venture is at present engaged in “significant dialogue with Native Hawaiians.” The venture additionally launched a couple of instructional initiatives, together with The Hawaii Island New Information (THINK) Fund in 2014 to raised put together Hawaii Island college students for careers in STEM.

In Could, the Hawaii state legislature handed Home Invoice 2024 in an effort to determine an 11-member board known as the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority that will oversee the administration and human exercise of the venture on Mauna Kea. The board would come with Native Hawaiians, educators, the mayor of Hawaii County amongst others, based on the invoice.

The invoice is at present below overview by the governor.

Kahunahana stated it’s not sufficient. He stated it disregards the significance of the aim behind the land for native folks.

“Once you change the [mountain], which has worth in our tradition as a relative or references to our creation myths or our ancestors, you are taking these away. The place turns into empty,” stated Kahunahana.

Over the previous 20 years, Kahunahana has been acknowledged for quite a few awards for his writing, filmmaking and artwork that always places Native Hawaiians as the topic.

“Movie is enjoyable, however movie additionally has the chance to say one thing,” he stated. “In case you really feel one thing, I believe you may have some accountability to say one thing.”

In October 2021, Kahunahana was tapped to affix a panel of AANHPI business leaders, together with Daniel Dae Kim and Jon M. Chu, to award the Future Gold Movie Fellowship, geared toward uplifting different AANHPI storytellers. He additionally attended the Gold Gala hosted by Gold Home, an AAPNHI-led group to advertise creatives, that celebrated the 100 most influential Asian American and Pacific Islanders within the leisure and tech industries.

He stated he was honored to be given the flexibility to offer visibility, not solely to the folks of Hawaii, however to the AANHPI group as a complete.

“I felt blessed to expertise the enjoyment and to have a good time the accomplishments of the Asian American group,” he stated. “I believe it not solely brings mild to and celebrates our similarities, nevertheless it additionally highlights our variations and to have our variations supported and highlighted in that manner.”