Reel Wāhine of Hawaii

On Saturday, November 16th I was fortunate to attend the screening of the Reel Wāhine of Hawai’i, a set of documentary reels about a few amazing women out here in Hawai’i involved in the arts and community leaders. The reels were directed and locally produced by members of the Hawai’i Women in Filmmaking organization. Each short 9-minute reel was told in a story narrative style, starting from where they grew up and how they came to what they are doing today. They showcased each woman’s work and its impact here in Hawai’i and on the mainland both as innovators and educators. They are given a platform to reach out to their audience so they can express why they do what they do, and their plans and hopes for the future.

Photo courtesy of Hawai'i Women in Filmmaking

It was very inspiring to see all the women have accomplished, whether their passion was filmmaking, music, animation, or illustrations, and how they pass on that knowledge by educating in schools or in the community. They provide the tools and advice for the next generation of filmmakers here in Hawai’i. Since Hawai’i is a special place for each of them, they focus not on what they can accomplish, but what they can do or give back to the community. I was excited to see one reel was about filmmaker Erin Lau, who participated in the Global Cinema Symposium here at HPU just last fall! I was also surprised to see many of the women who were the subjects of the reels were there for the premiere, appear after the films for the Q&A. During the Q&A I learned this was the second set of documentaries they had made for the series, and that they first premiered at HIFF 2018.  The Reel Wāhine of Hawai’i is a great chapter to locally produced films here on Hawai’i; I enjoyed watching these informative and inspiring films and look forward to seeing the next installment at next year’s festival!