Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 11, 1 November 2011 — 'Return to Kanaloa' [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
'Return to Kanaloa'
New documentary revisits Kaho'olawe saga
By Cheryl Corbiell Hushed anticipation hung over the crowd in the dimly lit room of Kūlana 'Ōiwi Hālau on Moloka'i as a new documentary transported more than 100 people back to the turbulent 1970s when Kaho'olawe was being bombed by the U.S. Navy. On Oct. 14, the Protect Kaho'olawe Ohana (PKO) premiered on Moloka'i a recently released documentary, Mai Ka Piko Mai, A Ho 'i: Return to Kanaloa, as part of a yearlong, statewide observance of the 20th anniversary of stopping the bombing on Kaho'olawe. Individuals clapped, cheered, cried and whispered prayers as the one-hour video revealed a new view of history that connects the Kaho'olawe stop-the-bombing movement to the rebirth of long-distance voyaging in Hawai'i. In 2003, the access control for Kaho'olawe was transferred from the U.S. Navy to the State of Hawai'i. Almost immediately, the Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana, a grassroots
organization dedicated to Kaho'olawe and the principle of aloha 'āina, began planning a homecoming event for the early warriors, who protested the bombing of Kaho'olawe, and the early voyagers, who sailed to Tahiti in the ieonie double-hulled eanoe, Hōkūle'a. Colette Machado, then the Chair of the Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, asked Moloka'i filmmaker Matt Yamashita to record the 2004 homecoming. "The homecoming symbolized Hawaiians who chose different battles and journeys during the early years of the Native Hawaiian cultural renaissance," said Machado, who now serves as OHA Chairperson. Most homecoming participants had not set foot on Kaho'olawe in more than 30 years. Yamashita used the interviews of event participants as a backdrop to tell the story. Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli, host for the video premiere and one of nine people who led the first occupation of Kaho'olawe, said that young people don't know the history of Kaho 'olawe. "To them, Kaho 'olawe is a page in a history book," he said. "The homecoming
was an opportunity for the early warriors and early voyagers to reminisce and to record a part of history that is not written down." The late Micronesian master navigator Papa Mau Piailug encouraged the early voyagers to reconnect with Kaho'olawe during the homecoming. Ancient chants and recent archaeological evidence painted a picture of Kaho'olawe as the home of the Hawaiian god of the oeean, Kanaloa. Kaho'olawe was called Kanaloa for a thousand years. Kaho'olawe was a plaee where navigators trained. Piailug accompanied three voyaging canoes, including Hōkūle'a, to Kaho'olawe, and he felt the spirits on Kaho'olawe were waiting for the canoes to return. Protect Kaho'olawe 'Ohana members reconstructed a navigation training platform, Kahua Kuhike'e, at the island's western point called Lae 'O Kealaikahiki, whieh translates to eape of the pathway to Tahiti. At the homecoming, the voyaging eanoe family reconnected with the navigating traditions of Kanaloa, and the Polynesian Voyaging Society has now rededicated Kealaikahiki as a training ground for oeean navigators and a plaee to perpetuate the cultural traditions of voyaging. In 2004, the sunny and windswept island made the homecoming challenging to film. Yamashita had never been to Kaho'olawe, but would return six more times in the following five years while he distilled 40
hours of video shot over four days into a onehour film that spans 30 years. "I wanted to tell the story about the island's significance to future generations as a priceless cultural ieon, " said Yamashita. "The video tells the story of early warriors and early voyagers and how both groups saw themselves headed in different directions during the 1970s. Now, in hindsight, both groups see the similarities in their journeys," said Yamashita. The documentary premiered among 220 other films in October at the 2011 Hawai'i International Film Festival in Honolulu. The Kaho'olawe Island Reserve Commission, whieh funded the project, will release the one-hour video as an educational tool next year. As for the future of the 39 hours of unused footage, Yamashita says the interviews are a priceless treasure and someday there will be an archival edit of the interviews. "This video is not the close of a chapter but new chapters about the rebirth of Hawaiian culture, an island's identity and a people's love for Kanaloa-Kaho'olawe," said Yamashita. "My wish for the film is to connect others with Kaho'olawe andbecome a part of it, as it did with me." ■ Cheryl Corbiell is an Instructor at the University of Hawai'i Maui CollegeMoloka'i and an ACE Reading Tutor at Kaunakakai Elementary School.
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"Return to Kanaloa" tells of a 2004 homecoming that connects the Kaho'olawe stop-the-bombing movement to the rebirth of long-distance voyaging in Hawai'i. - Still images: Courtesy ofHawai'i lnternational Film Festival
Leaders on two fronts participated in the 2004 homecoming: the late master navigator Mau Piailug, seated, taught non-instrument navigation to Hawaiians during the cultural renaissance, while Dr. Noa Emmett Aluli helped lead the first occupation of Kaho'olawe.