Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 1, 1 January 2009 — Finding grandfather [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Finding grandfather

Award-winning filmmaker turns lens on her tūtū By Lisa Asatū Public lnfurmatiun Specialist Native Hawaiian filnnnaker Anne Marie Kirk has always been a storyteller - of otherpeople's stories. Now she's turning the eamera eloser to home. Not quite on herself, but on her late grandfather, 01iver Homealani Kupau, who was widely known in the Hawaiian eommunity as "Oolonel Kupau," for having risen to the rank of lieutenant eolonel in the U.S. Army, "one of the highest ranking offieers of Hawaiian aneestry at the time - we're talking '30s, '40s and "50s," says Kirk. But it's not his mihtary career, or his nationally recognized marksmanship or any big, headline-grab-

|bing reason that pulled Kirk to her subject. It's just simple step in self-discov-ery. "I was in

|^j him school at UCLA and my mother, Iessica Maile, had found 1 6111111 fihn my grandfather had shot in the 1940s, '50s and early "60s," Kirk recalls. "I had no idea this fihn existed. I had no idea he shot fihn." Watching it in video fonnat, the reel revealed "fantastic footage of the famhy in Kahhi and Waiāhole and of different parts of the island and the continental U.S." "The strange thing is," she adds, "I was bom the year my grandfather died, and I feel his love of storytelhng imagery and fihn passed on to me." Now nhdway through the making of her planned 30- to 45-minute fihn, Khk has interviewed family members and is now seeking the

help of others who knew her grandfather and was affected by hhn. Help has aheady started coming in - in the fonn of a packet of photos from someone who served alongside her grandfather in the Army: "That was an enonnous gift, whieh will help in the storytelling of this fihn," says Khk, whose work includes the inthnate portrait of the 90-year-old Ruth Kaholoa'a of Waipi'o Valley, on Hawai'i, Happy Birthday, Tūtū Ruth, whieh won a nahonal award for documentary. Kupau, bom in Hau'ula in 1899 - a year after annexation - saw Hawai 'i heeome a territory and then a state. He was raised in Wai'anae by his fratemal grandparents and spent his post-high school years living with and helping support his mother, Sarah Cullen, in Kalihi. He graduated from Kamehameha Schools in 1918, following in the footsteps of his father, Lowell Kupau. There, 01iver Kupau mentored "numerous young people" in marksmanship and business, and also was "very influential to many

young Hawaiian men by guiding them to military life," Kirk says. "I would like to hear from them." In the meanthiie, she has her grandfather's archives to delve into: files filled with newspaper articles about Hawai'i's history, letters he received as a young man attending Kamehameha Schools, and detailed accounts of everything from his daily expenses to military career. There's also the 78 rpm of hhn singing Aloha 'Oe with Mulan Naiwi, uncovered after talking with kūpuna who described his penchant for singing. "It is absolutely amazing

to hear him sing, to hear his voice," says Kirk. "Chicken skin." The film will debut for family members in 2009 and then be entered in film festivals. The fill will be titled Homealani, after Kupau's middle name. "Through the years, the family has lost the meaning of this name, and I love the mystery of that because the film itself is a mystery - trying to reveal the story of 01iver Homealani Kupau," she says. To share your memories of 01iver Kupau, contact Kirk at 37 1 - 3072 or homealani@gmail.com. ^

KI'I'ONI'ONI - FILM

I A young Oliver Kupau I with his grandparents I who raised him, James Kalamahiai and Kaleikaukeha Naoho Kupau of Wai'anae. - Photo: Courtesy of Ann Mane Kirk, Blue CraterMedia