Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 11, 1 Nowemapa 2008 — Hawaiian wake-up eall [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiian wake-up eall

By ī. Ilihia Giansan Publicatiūns Editar

You know that feeling that you get in your na'au when you drive past 'Iolani Palaee or when you hear Kaulana Nā Pua? That chicken-skin feeling that comes over you and lets you know that your kūpuna have been disturbed? That intrinsic sense that wrong has been done? Noho Hewa: The Wrongful Occupation ofHawai'i captures that feeling on fihn. The fihn - the fhst feature-length project by fihmnaker Anne Ke'ala Kelly - opens with a kanikau, or chant of mourning, after a fire sparked by Army munitions destroyed sacred sites and habitat for endangered species in Mākua Valley, O'ahu. The dhge sets the tone for the next 70 minutes, a stark reminder of the eonhnual desecration of

Hawaiian land and displacement of Native Hawaiians in the homeland. Auwē. Five years ago, Noho Hewa began as a project looking at the militarization of Hawai'i. "But as a Hawaiian, I don't look at anything as separate issues. Our eolleetive issues are one narrative," said Kelly, whose fihn premiered at this year's Louis Vuitton Hawai'i International Fihn Festival and won the Halekūlani Golden Orchid Award for documentary feature.

Complete with interviews of noted Hawaiian scholars and activists and footage of various gatherings, arrests, protests and evictions, Noho Hewa touches upon military training on sacred grounds, the displacement of iwi kūpuna in the name of development, the fight for self-detennina-tion, homelessness and other symptoms of the hnposition of foreign deshes on native lands and people. Noho Hewa is, depending on your awareness of the struggles facing our lāhui, either a crash course in modern Hawaiian history or a wake-up eall to take action. It's a step in the right dhection that more people are being exposed to the issues facing our people and our 'āina. The more people know about something hewa, the less likely it is to happen again. Not without a fight, anyway. As for me, I blasted Sudden Rush as soon as I got into the car. Kū'ē! □

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KI'I'ONI'ONI - FILM

Hoho Hewa: īhe Wrongful Oaupah'on ofHawai'i documents the desecration of Hawai'i, from fhe displacemenf of iwi kūpuna fo milifary fraining on sacred grounds.- Photo: Courtesy ofknne Ke'ala Kelly

. Native Hawaiian filmmaker I Anne Ke'ala Kelly shares I some mana'o with the I audience at a showing I ol Hoho Hewa a\ \he I University of Hawai'i at I Hilo. - Photo: ī llihia | Gionson