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Film and (Self)Representation in Oceania

This presentation features a panel of Kanaka ‘Ōiwi filmmakers, ‘Āina Paikai, Justyn Ah Chong and Kapuaonaona Roback, and is moderated by Tadashi Nakamura.

ʻĀina Paikai is from Waiau, on the island of O‘ahu. He is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker that is interested in bolstering the Hawaiian film industry. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Academy for Creative Media. His student short films have screened locally at the Hawaii International Film Festival, nationally at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, and internationally at the Shanghai International Film Festival. In 2013 he was chosen amongst hundreds of applicants to the Sundance Native Lab Fellow, selected for his talent in screen writing. ʻĀina currently works as a photographer and editor for ‘ŌiwiTV, which is an indigenous focused channel that tells stories from a native point of view.

Justyn Ah Chong was born and raised on the island of Oʻahu, He is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker seeking to tell unique and culturally rooted stories. Justyn graduated from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts in 2011 with a B.A. in Film Production and a Minor in Business. Upon graduating, he returned home to Hawaiʻi where he began working as a full-time videographer and editor at ʻŌiwiTV – Hawaiʻi’s first and only indigenous television broadcasting network. There he had the opportunity to craft his skills behind the camera and in the edit bay on numerous mini-documentary projects, news pieces, commercial work and non-profit videos. Through ʻŌiwiTV he’s been blessed to travel the world, sailing with and documenting the Hōkūleʻa’s Worldwide Voyage and has collaborated on several PBS national documentaries, including the Nā Loea series, and Lets Play Music! Slack Key with Cyril Pahinui and Friends. Aside from his work at ʻŌiwiTV, Justyn has been working on his first narrative feature-length film, Wichita, with colleagues from USC and is currently in post-production with the project.

Kapuaonaona Roback was born and raised in ʻEwa on the island of Oʻahu, but her ʻohana comes from across Hawaiʻi paeʻāina. She grew up in a Hawaiian speaking household and spent her formative years in the papahana ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi (Hawaiʻi’s Hawaiian immersion program). She attended the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo where she earned B.A. degrees in English and Haʻawina Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian Studies). Today she pursues her passion as a writer producer at ʻŌiwi TV telling stories about the Hawaiian community through the Hawaiian language.

Tadashi Nakamura was named one of CNN’s “Young People Who Rock” for being the youngest filmmaker at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival as well as one of the “30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30” by the popular website Angry Asian Man. The fourth generation Japanese American recently completed Mele Murals, a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. Mele Murals is screening at this year’s Hawai‘i International Film Festival. His last film Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings was broadcasted nationally on PBS in May, 2013. The film went on to win the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award, beating out 12 Years a Slave and Fruitvale Station.

Ticket Information
is event is free and open to the public.

Event Sponsor
UH-Mānoa Department of Ethnic Studies, Native Hawaiian Student Services, Office of Student Equity, Excellence, and Diversity, Mānoa Campus

More Information
(808) 956-6915