Hawai'i short films seek wider audience
By Moon Yun Choi
Special to The Advertiser
On the evening of the first Kamehameha Schools 'Ohana Film Festival, Patricia Gillespie worried that her students would think her documentary, which chronicles the life of Honolulu jazz pianist Betty Loo Taylor, was about "old-folk music."
But Gillespie, video productions teacher at the school, was "blown away" that many of her students who had attended last month's festival liked "They Call Her Lady Fingers (The Betty Loo Taylor Story)." They found Taylor, hailed as "Hawai'i's first lady of jazz," to be relatable and funny.
In "Kissing God," a boy (Daniel Kalahele) doesn't like to be seen in his dad's odd car.
"That is really encouraging because we're developing not only filmmakers but an audience," said Gillespie. She organized the film fest, which showed six films culled from 37 Hawai'i-produced films screened at the 2003 Hawaii International Film Festival, and hopes to make it an annual event. The films shown on the Kapalama campus were either done by students or involved people with Kamehameha Schools ties.
"Lady Fingers," written and narrated by Sam Polson, won the 2003 HIFF Blockbuster Audience Award for Best Documentary. Gillespie plans to shop the documentary to PBS.
Other notable shorts from the fest were "Kava Kultcha," directed by Kamehameha Schools and University of Southern California Film School graduate Leah Kihara, "Kissing God," directed by Ron Patricio, with cinematography by Kamehameha Schools grad Vince Keala Lucero, and "The Red Hibiscus," directed by Robert Pennybacker and starring Mihana Aluli Souza, who is the parent of a video production student.
Kihara's "Kava Kultcha" is a 14-minute short about a futuristic, tyrannical society and an underground Polynesian group fighting to preserve its culture — kava drinking — from eradication.
'Colorvision'
'i scream, floats & Sundays' airs on "Colorvision" on PBS, 11 p.m. Jan. 18.
While this short won't be airing soon, Kihara's 2002 HIFF Hawaii Filmmaker Award winner "i scream, floats & Sundays" will play nationally on PBS on a short film anthology series "Colorvision," which debuts in January. The 10-minute short is about the Hawaiian female experience, told in three vignettes.
Kihara is submitting "Kava Kultcha" to "Colorvision" and has submitted the short to the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Drifting Clouds Short Film Festival in New Zealand and Visual Communications Film Fest Los Angeles.
The filmmaker is also writing a longer narrative piece on food and family but isn't planning immediate production, as she's due to have a baby in early March.
Looking back on "i scream, floats & Sundays" as an expectant mother, Kihara says, "Because it was such a personal topic for me, I remember feeling the thrill of giving birth as I first screened the completed short, and beaming like a proud mother as the audience reacted. 'i scream' gave me the exhilaration of delivering a product that was a part of me that I could be proud to share and hopefully inspire others, especially women."
Patricio, who wrote, produced and directed the 11-minute "Kissing God," has also submitted his film to "Colorvision." He's working on extending the short to a feature-length movie and hopes to start production next summer.
"Kissing God" is made memorable by its poignant tale of a father/son relationship and its dreamlike visual design. The director and editor, Scott Mason, used "sepia gold" to mark the past, black and white to indicate memory within memory, "electric blue" to create a static, tense feel during a robbery scene, and separated present time with raw color.
The story is about a boy named Makena (Daniel Kalahele), who's ashamed of his father. Walter Dale Meyer plays the drug addicted father, who is gunned down by police during a liquor-store robbery. Makena as an adult (Francisco Lutu) can't hold down a job and his wife divorces him, but there's still small, significant change. He has a loving relationship with his daughter and his "drug" is surfing.
While the film is based on Patricio's personal experience, some parts were dramatized. His stepfather, a heroin addict, spent time in jail for robbery, but he never died. Patricio, who's had problems with drugs, actually learned screenwriting while he was incarcerated. Since then, he's cleaned up his life. He says he isn't afraid of a relapse because now he's got a supportive family, a loving wife (Miyuki Patricio), faith in God, and a 9-month-old son (Pukona) keeping him on track.
"The Red Hibiscus," an 8-minute film noir about the spirit of pre-statehood Hawai'i, will be offered to short-film showcases on national public television. It was funded by Pacific Islanders in Communications. Pennybacker, a 23-year veteran of Hawai'i television as writer, producer and director, says he's drawn to the nostalgia for pre-statehood times. In the film, its spirit is embodied in the Hawaiian torch singer who mysteriously disappeared in the late '50s. That era reflected a "more innocent time ... the aloha spirit was perhaps more evident back then."
