UCLA Asian American Studies Center Film Festival 2021

UCLA EthnoCommunications and Theater, Film and Television alumna Sandra Carbonell-Kiamtia weaves home video footage and family photos into this exquisite hand-drawn animation about her father's journey from the Republic of Mauritius to France and the US. Integrating her own youth spent in transit, she explores the sense of longing and loss and the melancholy of the diasporic experience while calling to attention the effects of climate change, geopolitical capital, and redevelopment happening in her family homeland.

Color in French and English with English and French s/t, 6 min. Director/Screenwriter: Sandra Carbonell-Kiamtia. Illustrator/Animator: Sylvia Bi.

When the state government approved the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea, mother-daughter protectors rose up in protests and prayers with this encroachment on what they consider the spiritual seat of all Native Hawaiians and indigenous peoples. Director Jalena Keane-Lee documents these voices of protest conveying a direct urgency as she shows the emotional trauma already at the surface and the transmission of an activist ethos from one generation to another.

Color, in Hawaiian and English with English s/t, 15 min. Director: Jalena Keane-Lee.

Native Hawaiian slam poet, educator, and activist Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio inspires and instills in us the power of words and performance to galvanize change and educate in director Ciara Lacy's intimate and powerful character portrait. As a member of the Save Mauna Kea movement, Osorio shares how her creative process informs her teaching of the history of exploitation and neocolonialism. Ethics behind development take center stage while bridging identities through creative expression.

Color, in Hawaiian and English with English s/t, 13 min. Director: Ciara Lacy.

Available to view between February 19 and February 22 on the Archive's Vimeo page.

Presented by the Polynesian Voyaging Society and 'Ōiwi TV, Moananuiākea illustrates the crucial role of indigenous voices and perspectives in both storytelling and in creating paradigm-changing solutions to the world's most pressing problems. The film honors 'ike Hawai'i — traditional wisdom of our island culture — on a global stage. It extends the values of the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage and the Hōkūle'a, a beacon of sustainability, unity and culture, beyond the voyaging community for perpetuation in the wider world.

Moananuiākea plays a vital role in carrying the enduring legacy of the Mālama Honua Voyage into the future. The voyage's groundbreaking conservation and preservation initiatives have already inspired countless new practices to protect our environment. The wildly successful revival of a traditional art that was nearly extinct has created a resurgence of pride and respect for native cultures and encourages the active rediscovery of forgotten cultural practices.

Color, language, 130 min. Director: Nā'ālehu Anthony. Screenwriter: Bryson Hoe.