Posted on: Tuesday, August 3, 2004

Professor's departure a mystery

By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Students of the new University of Hawai'i film school are wondering what's going on behind the scenes.

The founding director of the Academy for Creative Media, Peter Britos, sent an e-mail to students this weekend saying that he had "been told that I will not be allowed to teach any ACM-affiliated courses at UH-Manoa." Britos declined to make a public statement.

The announcement came as a shock to students who had looked to Britos as a role model and mentor.

Britos, who grew up in Hawai'i and is part-Hawaiian, graduated from Castle High School. He received an associate degree from Leeward Community College and his B.A. in English literature from UH-Manoa.

He went on to earn his masters and Ph.D. at the prestigious USC film school. His graduate studies were paid for partially by a scholarship from Kamehameha Schools, as well as other academic and industry awards.

Britos worked in a variety of jobs in the entertainment industry in L.A. before coming home to help start the UH Academy for Creative Media. Smart, worldly, artistic and intense, he symbolized the possibility of the Big Dream — a dream he often spoke of — that Hawai'i kids could grow up to tell Hawai'i stories to an international audience.

ACM sophomore Jennifer Tokunaga called Britos "my advisor and my idol." She had been planning to meet with him to go over her fall course schedule.

Britos taught a course three days a week in the spring 2004 semester. As director of the department, he also wrote grant applications, formulated budgets and served as chief academic officer for the Academy for Creative Media, drawing up course descriptions and formulating academic tracks.

Britos had been planning to teach two courses in the fall: Global Media and Cinematic & Digital Narrative Production. His e-mail to students indicates they will not hear from him again as director of the Academy for Creative Media. He also assures students that the changes in his status in the department "were not inspired by any impropriety or lack of competence on my part."

ACM chairman Chris Lee was unavailable for comment. Lee is on the Mainland and won't be back until Aug. 12. The fall semester starts Aug. 23.

This will be just the second semester for the fledgling academy. Last spring, there were 60 students enrolled.

In addition to his role as an academic, Britos also is a writer, a business owner and a painter with an exhibition about to open this month in downtown Honolulu.

His e-mail to students ends with this statement: "Remember, never give up. Do your own writing. Tell your stories — and help others tell theirs. Be honorable people."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.