USA202077 minEnglish, Hawaiian with English Subtitles International PremiereDrama
PART OF THE CENTREPIECE SPOTLIGHT ON HAWAI'I
Kea can’t make ends meet, even while working as a luau dancer, karaoke-bar hostess, and elementary school Hawaiian-language teacher. After a violent altercation with her boyfriend, Kea accidentally hits a homeless man with her car. Not wanting to involve the authorities, she decides to take care of the mysterious man herself. But while she continues to struggle with her own financial hardship and difficulty finding housing, Kea’s downward spiral begins to reveal a deeply rooted trauma from her past. As her life careens out of control, so too does her grasp on the world around her.
Christopher Kahunahana’s captivating storytelling ventures beyond the world-famous titular tourist destination and strikes an aesthetic that is perhaps unfamiliar to those with cursory knowledge of idyllic Hawaii. Kahunahana’s juxtaposition of the latter against the cold concrete of looming and perpetual urban development casts a critical look at the gentrified waste of ecological decay, systemic poverty, and the enduring legacy of U.S. colonization, which haunts the faces and spaces of Kahunahana’s film. Waikiki is a critical contribution to the growing body of Native Hawaiian cinema.
- Kevin Lim
Danielle Zalopany
Peter Shinkoda
Jason Quinn
OFFICIAL SELECTION
Hawai’i International Film Festival, 2020
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2020
Seattle International Film Festival, 2021
AWARDS
Best Hawai’i Feature Film, Hawai’i International Film Festival, 2020
Best Feature and Best Cinematography, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2020
Christopher Kahunahana
Christopher Kahunahana is a Sundance Institute Native Lab and Feature Film Program Alumni. As the founder of 4th World Film, he’s written and directed LĀHAINĀ NOON and directed a short documentary for the Smithsonian Institute’s Asian Pacific American “A Day in the Life” project.
10 Nov, 2021
to 19 Nov, 2021
AA
This presentation has English subtitles.
An Active Listener will be available to offer one-on-one peer support for viewers who may find the content of this presentation triggering. More info on how to access here.
Since the advent of cinema and the forced colonization of the islands, Hawai’i stories on film have too often been told by outsiders. Reel Asian is bringing a spotlight onto two acclaimed Hawai’i-made dramatic feature films, WAIKIKI and I WAS A SIMPLE MAN.
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Founded in Toronto in 1997, Reel Asian is Canada’s largest pan-Asian film festival and a year-round cultural organization dedicated to championing Asian and Asian diasporic artists and storytellers. What began as a grassroots film festival has grown into a national platform supporting filmmakers and audiences through screenings, education, industry initiatives, artist development, and community programming presented across Toronto, the GTA, and online across Canada.
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