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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, July 28, 2007

Bumatai's last project picked for film festival

Advertiser Staff

"Sunday Wind," an Island-produced short film which was the last project of comedian-actor Ray Bumatai, has been tapped for showcase in the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films, Aug. 23-29.

Bumatai died Oct. 6, 2005.

The film, which also stars Troy Ignacio and Shiro Kawai, tells the story of three local taro farmers in 1941 whose lives are devastated by events surrounding the Pearl Harbor attack.

"It's not just about Pearl Harbor," said producer-cinematographer Shawn Hiatt. "It's a film about the stupidity that war breeds everywhere. It's about that time and it's about our time."

"Sunday Wind" earned the $10,000 Cause and F(X) Dream Digital Award at the Louis Vuitton Hawaii International Film Festival and the Aloha Visionary Filmmaker Award at MauiFest.

The film is intended to be one chapter of several short films that ultimately will become a feature entitled "Kaunaloa." Each short film will spotlight a major event in Hawai'i history affecting generations of the same Island family.