SOVEREIGN CINEMA

Included as a FREE bonus after the features in our Special Presentation: Sovereign Cinema–a very special conversation with filmmaker Joan Lander of Nā Maka O Ka ‘Āina, Leanne Ferrer from Pacific Islanders in Communication, and Anthony Banua-Simon of Cane Fire (recorded LIVE 5/1/21)

SPECIAL PRESENTATION

Sovereign Cinema:
the political documentary of Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina

Since 1974, videomakers Puhipau and Joan Lander have operated as Nā Maka o ka ‘Āina (“the eyes of the land”), a documentary collective that saw in media production a means of anti-colonial knowledge-making. Their films on the cultures and ecologies of Hawai’i and the Pacific redeem native practices for native livelihood, and their monumental political documentaries imagine a sovereign Hawai’i only possible by recovering the history of the oppressed. This is public media as political media, independent cinema as a sovereign cinema. Their videography of over 100 documentaries is unparalleled, an archive as explosive as ever and an essential contribution to global indigenous cinema.

The films in SOVEREIGN CINEMA: THE POLITICAL DOCUMENTARY OF NĀ MAKA O KA ‘ĀINA

Act of War – The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation (Puhipau, Joan Lander, 1993, 58 min)

Sovereignty includes the right to tell one’s own history. That means laying bare the events and circumstances leading up to the 1893 coup, backed by armed American troops, to topple the Hawaiian kingdom.

The Tribunal (Puhipau, Joan Lander, 1994, 84 min)

A fascinating legal study of justice under occupation, THE TRIBUNAL documents the Peoples’ International Tribunal Hawai’i 1993, during which the United States and the State of Hawai’i were put on trial for crimes against native people.

Mauna Kea – Temple Under Siege (Puhipau, Joan Lander, 2005, 57 min)

“Great science. Wrong mountain.” For Native Hawaiians, Mauna Kea is a kūpuna, an ancestor central to their culture. For astronomers, Mauna Kea is the ideal site for telescopes. Protectors of the land face off against the academy in this acclaimed document of Native claims to indigenous knowledge.

Purchase tickets for all three films in Sovereign Cinema for a special price $25 General / $20 Member!

* The recording of the LIVE Panel is free and available to view via multiple platforms, including the official Facebook, Twitch, and YouTube accounts for Pacific Arts Movement.

Co-Presented by UCSD SPACES, UCSD Pacific Islander Student Association.
Sponsored by Pacific Islanders in Communications