Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 10, Number 3, 1 March 1993 — Filmmaker Kamae to show film in Washington, D.C. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Filmmaker Kamae to show film in Washington, D.C.

Office of Hawaiian Affairs Trustees have approved a grant that will allow filmmaker Eddie Kamae to show something of the heart of Hawai'i at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. next May. Featured on "Hawaiian Day," May 8, will be his newest documentary, "The Hawaiian Way," a film about the origins of the unique slack-key sound and style of musicianship, and what it reveals about the Hawaiian way of feeling.

"The stem of slack-key," says former OHA trustee Manu Kahaiali'i, one of a number of musicians featured in the film, "is in the eeho of the wind, the rattle of the leaves, and in the sweet smell of our mountains." "The Hawaiian Way" is about being close to nature, about passing music from one generation to another, about families and places and music as a way of

revealing the Hawaiian spirit. Directed by Kamae and produced by his wife Myrna, the film is the third in their Hawaiian Legacy series. Their first was "Li'a: the Legacy of a Hawaiian Man," a tribute to the life and music of Big Island composer and musician Sam Li'a Kalainaina. The second was the environmental documentary, "Listen to the Forest." Both these films are being used in schools throughout Hawai'i as educational resources and will be shown in Washington.

Kamae has been an influential performer of traditional island music for the past 30 years. As one of the first filmmakers of Hawaiian ancestry, he is now showing how this medium ean be used to bring the wisdom of the past into a meaningful context for the present. His invitation is timely, as it comes both during the International Year of Indigenous

Peoples, and the year Hawaiians mark the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the monarchy. For more information about the events of the Kennedy Center, or to be a part of these events,

please contact Myrna Kamae, Asian/Pacific Foundation — Hawaiian Division, P.O. Box 8230, Honolulu, Hawai'i 96830. Fax: (808)941-3604. To travel with the group eall

Vanessa at Carefree Tours and Travel, 526-2222 or 1-800-232-2528 (after March 1). In Washington, eall One American Film Institute Theater 1(202)828-4091 (afterMarch 1).

Eddie Kamae (left) and Sam Li'a Kalainaina. Said Kamae, "When I got to Sam Li'a's house he said he had been expecting me. I didn't know how he knew I was coming, but he knew. He said he had been waiting for me." Photo by Boone Morrison