Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 14, Number 7, 1 July 1997 — Pacific films festival features Hawaiian comedy [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Pacific films festival features Hawaiian comedy

The 4th Annual Pacific Island Images Film Festival will host the world premiere of Hawaiian Sting, a comedy short written by high school student Anthony Kahawai'i of Waikōloa. Pacific Island Images is the only film festival in the world devoted exclusively to showcasing the work of indigenous filmmakers from the Pacific and plays throughout Hawai'i from July 23 to

August 2. Sponsored by Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) and UH-Mānoa Summer Session, this year's slate offers up an impressive array of recent narrative and documentary work from Hawai'i and New Zealand. Topping the bill is Hawaiian Sting. This lively, irreverent work stars Ray Bumatai as a Hawaiian bruddah who has his own way of handling Hawai'i's pesky flies and cockroaches. Anthony Kahawai'i worked with veteran comedy writer Bruce

Vilanch (who also writes for Whoopi Goldberg and Bette Midler) to polish his script fc television. (Anthony receive( an OHA scholarship to inten at the state legislature this summer.) Hawaiian Sting received major corporate sponsorship from Aston Hotels & Resorts. Other featured works are: Living on Islands, a documentary partially funded by OHA, whieh takes a hard

look at Hawai'i's diminishing natural resources; Kumuhonua, an award-winning video produced by Kamehameha Schools students Honilani Newhouse and Charles Robinson, whieh follows the Hawai'iloa and Makali'i voyaging canoes back to the Marquesas; Thunderbox, a comedy short directed by Onee Were Warriors' Lee Tamahori; and Kapa Haka, whieh documents three New Zealand dance troupes as they prepare for the 1996 Maori Performing Arts Festival.

SunhOoUowinrUes and da.es: Nānākuli High CoUege (4:30 p.m.) July 30 Windward Commu ty juiy 31 Lāna'i Senior Cen^er , i Center August 1 HU°'S ^VTerScho^uditorium August « S3K ^oua^hou^ 591^59. ForfuV program information, e

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