It has been years since Chinese-American history professor Raymond Ding and his Amerasian ex-girlfriend Aurora Crane ended their relationship. Yet their feelings for each other are strong, even after subsequent romances and other life changes.

So unfolds filmmaker Eric Byler's third feature-length film, "Americanese," an adaptation of Shawn Wong's novel, "American Knees," which screens at the Hawaii International Film Festival next week.

Byler picks up the story in the middle of Wong's novel, illuminating more immediately the nuances of Aurora's hapa family dynamics. In flashbacks, it is revealed that Aurora's Caucasian father did not approve of her marrying Raymond, and Aurora's denial of her father's racism led to the breakup. The result finds the characters at a complex, emotional crossroads — Aurora re-examines her choices as her sister becomes engaged to an African-American man, and Raymond cannot let go of Aurora as he embarks on a perilous, new relationship.

As a storyteller, Byler is drawn to complexity. In previous films, "Charlotte Sometimes," and its follow-up, "Tre," the Moanalua High School alum has made his mark plumbing the dark side of human relationships and their consequences. Byler, whose own father and mother are of European and Chinese descent, respectively, has also featured mostly Asian-American casts.

"In Aurora, we see the regret of a forward thinker, who, in her own life, seeks to be egalitarian and stand up for what is right," Byler said. "In her younger sister, she's confronted by a mirror. Again, her father's words are codified and phrased in a way that makes it hard to call him on his bigotry."

Byler related a personal incident that occurred after he and a mostly Asian-American group of friends had just completed a screening of "Americanese" in Washington, D.C.

"We're at this pizza parlor," he said. "Two Caucasian guys come in and one of them says, 'What is this, Asia?' So this hapa girl with us went up to the guy and said, 'No, it's America!' To which, the guy said, 'Welcome to America.' Someone told me what had happened, and I wouldn't be proud to have what I told the guy printed."

A similar event prompted Byler to get heavily involved in Virginia Democrat Jim Webb's campaign to unseat U.S. Sen. George Allen in the upcoming elections. Allen stirred controversy when he paused during a speech to address an Indian-American man from Webb's camp, who had been shadowing him on the campaign trail with a video camera.

"Welcome to America and the real world of Virginia!" Allen said to the man, drawing laughter from a mostly white crowd. The senator also arbitrarily called the man, whose name is S.R. Sidarth, "macaca." Byler, whose parents now live in Virginia, was deeply offended and inspired to join Webb's campaign.

"For hapa people, who can pass for white, there's a subtle test we go through when people say things that are racist against a minority group, expecting us to be complicit," he said. "Aurora's situation does reflect the same regret and shame you have when you felt you could've done or said something, and you didn't."

Despite his outspokenness on race and politics, Byler insists he is an artist before he is an activist. These days, his art is generating considerable buzz, along with a hectic schedule.

At the South By SouthWest Film Festival in Austin, Texas, "Americanese" won the Audience Award for Narrative Competition, and the Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast. Meanwhile, Byler said, the film is close to a deal with a major distribution company.

Then there's "My Life ... Disoriented," a made-for-television drama about a hapa family that moves from San Francisco to a mostly white neighborhood in Bakersfield, Calif., which will air on PBS. The pilot is also in the HIFF lineup, and will be screened Wednesday and Oct. 28 as part of a DisORIENTation Shorts Program. Byler said the show's Los Angeles screening garnered attention from other networks, including CBS, ABC Family, the Disney Channel and MTV, prompting speculation that a series might be forthcoming.

In addition, "Tre," which Byler considers a labor of love, has been refined for possible wider release after "Americanese."

There wasn't much — if any — breathing room between all three projects, but Byler's career is reaping the benefits of the hard work.

"It's definitely gotten easier to get my projects made," he said. "I was probably starving for so long, to have the gratification of seeing my stuff completed that I probably overdid it. But that's how you have to do it."

Welcome to the real world of Eric Byler.

Charles Gary is a writer based in Los Angeles.