"When Fear Reigned," a short film about the impact of martial law in Hawai`i during World War II, will debut on Wednesday, March 19.

The film will be shown to the public for the first time at a free event from 5 to 7 p.m. at the King Kamehameha V Judiciary History Center. The Judiciary History Center is located at 417 S. King St. directly behind the King Kamehameha statue.

Within hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, fear of invasion, further attacks and sabotage of U.S. military forces prompted the territorial governor of Hawai`i to sign a proclamation declaring martial law. For the next three years, military rule replaced Hawai'i's civilian government. Daily life changed dramatically as the military enacted new laws called general orders. Civil rights were curtailed and Hawai'i's civilian courts were replaced by military courts.

Interviews with persons who lived in Hawai`i during the time of martial law, 1941–1944, are included in the film.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by University of Hawai`i law professor Jon Van Dyke. Doris Nye, whose parents were interned after the attack on Pearl Harbor, will relate her childhood experience during the discussion. Other members of the panel are filmmaker Tom Coffman, who will examine the process of portraying legal history through film, and human rights lawyer Edmund Burke, who volunteered to represent a defendant held in the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba.

Reservations to attend the event are required and may be made by calling 539-4995 or e-mailing toni.h.palermo@courts.state.hi.us.