Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 31, Number 12, 1 December 2014 — 'Lihau's Journey' joins growing body of contemporary hula films [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]
'Lihau's Journey' joins growing body of contemporary hula films
By Lurline Wailana McGregor Thanks primarily to Hollywood filmmakers, hula came to evoke little more than images of partially clad, attractive yet undistinguished men and women performing provocative dance moves. That was before hula dancers and those familiar with hula
culture got behind the camera. For Hawaiian and Hawai'i filmmakers, hula has become a popular theme, not only in documentaries but in fictional stories as well, as most recently seen in Lilian's Journey, a short film featured in the 2014 Hawai'i International Film Festival.
Not surprisingly, the themes of several recent
locally produced narrative hula films are very similar: the plot revolves around the journey a hula dancer must undertake to connect to the ancestors and the 'aina so that he or she can truly become the dance and the mana can flow freely. It is a hero's journey, where the physical obstacles become a metaphor for the challenges that the dancer must overcome in their inner quest to achieve transformation. Only then will he or she understand what it
truly means to be Hawaiian. In Keao, a short film produced by hula dancer and filmmaker Kaliko Spenser in 2007, the story follows a young woman's inwardjourney as she
deals with her angst about having to wear a coconut bra for her job as a hula dancer at a hotel lu'au show. She seeks a return to the ancient practices. Keo Woolford, also a hula dancer, wrote and directed his first feature film in 2013, The Haumdna, a story about a Waiklkl lounge performer who must change his lifestyle to earn credibility as a kumu hula. Lilian 's Journey is about a teenage hula dancer who must forego her weekend plans with her unforgiving boyfriend to instead walk from the seashore to the top
of a mountain to connect to her great-grandmother and understand her kuleana as a hula dancer. Ari Bernstein, digital media director and graduate of Hawai'i Preparatory Academy, directed and co-wrote Lilian 's Journey with Malama Solomon and Allan Trevette. LIhau, played by Leiomalama Tamasese Solomon, is Solomon's daughter, and in real life is the lead dancer for Halau O Po'ohala. Bern-
stein had been documenting the performances of Halau O Po'ohala for several years, even following the halau to New York City. "I saw the struggles the girls go through trying to bal- ' ance hula with cell phones and boyfriends and teenage life," I says Bernstein. "I was inspired to make a movie that would dra-
matize these conflicts." The script was a collaborative effort among the three writers. "Allan Trevette, who lives in Kona, was the 'Hollywood' writer, Malama Solomon was the Hawaiian cultural expert, and I was in | the middle, trying to bring both sides I together to make it work." Leiomalama Solomon was Bernstein's student in his digital media class at HPA and he thought she would be I perfect for the role of LIhau. Malama
Solomon's sister, Hulali Solomon Covington, plays the role of Lihau's mother in the film, and in real life is the kumu hula of Halau O Po'ohala, which recently celebrated its 150th
anniversary. "Above all," says Bernstein about his motivation to make the film, "I wanted to make a movie that would feature a Polynesian female as a hero that younger girls could watch with their grandmothers and talk about afterwards." Lilian's Journey will show 5:30 p.m. March 7, 2015, at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea, Hawai'i Island. ¦ Lurline Wailana McGregor is a writer, television producer and author o/Between the Deep Blue Sea and Me.
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LIhau is played by Leiomalama Tamasese Solomon, hhau's Journey will screen March 7 at Kahilu Theatre in Waimea, Hawai'i Island. - Courtesy images
Director Ari Bernstein, pictured, cowrote the film with Allan Trevette and Malama Solomon, whose daughter portrayed LIhau.