OTHER PROJECTS
ʻOHINA LABS + SHOWCASE
Director of Education
‘OHINA debuted in 1999 to support independent filmmakers and to give them an opportunity to exhibit their films to the community through a short film showcase, named with the Hawaiian term for "gathering" or "collecting." Through the years, ‘OHINA has grown into a media pipeline responsible for helping emerging filmmakers and storytellers bring their cinematic visions to the screen through the ‘OHINA LABS mentorship program and ‘OHINA FILMS. For more information, visit ‘Ohina.org.
In 2017, ‘OHINA launched its inaugural Filmmakers Lab with guest mentor Joe Robert Cole (co-screenwriter, Black Panther), offering a development hub for short film projects starting at the story level. Projects emerging from ‘OHINA LABS over the years since have gone on to secure distribution deals and make waves around the international festival circuit. Recent acclaimed LABS-developed films include Kukini, a story by Paula Fuga and written/directed by Mitchel Merrick, and animated short The Queen’s Flowers, written/directed by Ciara Leina‘ala Lacy.
The ‘Ohina Filmmakers Lab is a two-day filmmaker educational intensive that provides Hollywood screenwriters, producers, and directors mentorship and advice in a variety of key filmmaking fields, including script development, honing pitches, production support, project guidance and more. ‘Ohina Films is responsible for bringing to fruition the ‘Ohina Greenlight Award-winning film and moving it through the short film festival circuit.
Presented in partnership with Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) and hosted at Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design a center of the Doris Duke Foundation, ‘OHINA LABS 2024 welcomed ten Fellows to the free mentorship intensive following a competitive review process of their script submissions. Out of the cohort, Anette Arinix Aga has been named winner of the ‘OHINA Greenlight Award for “Kamaʻaina Not Kanaka”—granting her production support valued at $20,000 provided by award sponsors Pacific Islanders in Communications (PIC) and NMG Network towards the script becoming a completed short film.
Throughout the intensive, Fellows were partnered with guest mentors Chris Kekaniokalani Bright (screenwriter, live-action Lilo & Stitch), Zoë Eisenberg (writer/director Chaperone, Slamdance 2024 Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize), and Ty Sanga (first Native Hawaiian filmmaker to premiere a short at Sundance Film Festival as writer/director of Stones). Guest judges joined a Pitch Day session during LABS to offer the Fellows further feedback and weigh in on this year’s awards, including Stephen Broussard (VP Production & Development at Marvel Studios), Henry Ian Cusick (actor/director; Primetime Emmy nominee for role on “Lost”), Aaron and Jordan Kandell (screenwriters on Disney's Moana), and Adam Wong (producer Chaperone). The program was led by filmmakers Gerard Elmore, Executive Director ‘OHINA, and Lisette Flanary, ‘OHINA Director of Education.
From Executive Director of ‘OHINA & filmmaker Gerard Elmore: “What started out as the little LABS that could has evolved in dynamic ways, opening up even more doors for our filmmakers and stories connected to Hawai‘i. The sheer caliber of the mentors that give of their time, our Fellows that always rise to the occasion with their artistry and focus, and the commitment of our local creative community to uplifting new voices is what makes ‘OHINA possible, and enables us to continue to cultivate collaborations and opportunities that will fuel the future.”
REEL WAHINE OF HAWAI'I: SEASON 5
Produced by all-women directors, camera crews, writers and editors, this series of short film portraits reveal untold stories of women creatives who preserve Hawai‘i history and culture through film. Now in its fifth season, REEL WĀHINE OF HAWAI‘I features prominent filmmakers such as Alison Week, a filmmaker based in Waimea, Hawaiʻi, whose personal film work aims to uplift stories of women and represent her island home, Chaunnel ''Pākē'' Salmon is an award-winning filmmaker and entrepreneur from Hawaiʻi, who draws inspiration from Hawaiian surf legends and nature to showcase the beauty of Hawaiʻi''s stories and culture to a global audience. Lola Quan Bautista, born and raised on the island of Guam, has been doing research on Micronesian migration, settlement in urban spaces, and ongoing connections between diasporic communities and their home island nations, Robin Lung, a fourth-generation Chinese American filmmaker from Hawaiʻi, who specializes in bringing untold stories of minorities and women to the big screen, Shirley Thompson, a renowned documentary producer, editor, and director, and Tiare Ribeaux, a Kānaka Maoli filmmaker based in Honolulu, whose films use magical realism to critique social and ecological imbalances, and the connection between our bodies and land and water systems, focusing on transformation.
The series premiered at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival in October 2024 in the Made in Hawaiʻi section. Produced by Shirley Thompson and Vera Zambonelli, REEL WĀHINE OF HAWAIʻI is funded by a prestigious National Endowment for the Arts grant and Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking.
Lisette Marie Flanary directed the episode featuring Shirley Thompson, a renowned documentary producer, editor, and director. Shirley is best known for editing award-winning documentaries such as Baseball Behind Barbed Wire, The ʻIlima Lady, Island Cowgirls, Finding Kukan, and Pidgin: The Voice of Hawaiʻi.
REEL WAHINE OF HAWAI'I: SEASON 2
REEL WĀHINE OF HAWAIʻI is a series produced by Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking highlighting Hawaiʻi’s top women filmmakers. This short film series is also an intergenerational project: a collaboration between young women graduates of Hawai'i Women in Filmmaking's programs and a veteran team of filmmakers, eager to share their experience and expertise. The films preserve the untold stories of Hawai'i women filmmakers in their own words and in all their diversity to inspire the storytellers and leaders of tomorrow. It features active filmmakers, their personal challenges working in a male dominated industry and focuses on the changing world of media and the role women play in expanding Hawaiʻi’s industry in innovative ways.
In the second season of REEL WĀHINE OF HAWAIʻI, the following creatives are profiled:
Editor and producer LISA ALTIERI is best known for the documentary features she has edited about Pacific Islander culture and history including SKIN STORIES, PAPA MAU and UNDER A JARVIS MOON.
Independent filmmaker and hula dancer LISETTE MARIE FLANARY creates documentary films that celebrate a modern renaissance of hula dance and Hawaiian culture including AMERICAN ALOHA: HULA BEYOND HAWAI’I, NĀ KAMALEI: THE MEN OF HULA, ONE VOICE, and TOKYO HULA, which premiered at HIFF in 2019.
Writer and director ERIN LAU creates powerful narrative short films about families and relationships featuring strong women protagonists, including THE MOON AND THE NIGHT and EMPTY SPACES. At 25 she is already a working director in Los Angeles with a clear sense of her own voice, her creative process and a deep understanding of why she wants to tell stories based on her own Hawaiian culture and community.
For half a century MYRNA KAMAE & Eddie Kamae were partners in life, music and film. Myrna produced and Eddie directed ten films about Hawaiian music, language and culture, beginning with LI‘A LEGACY OF A HAWAIIAN MAN in 1988. They documented renowned Hawaiian kumus (teachers) and kupuna (elders) to preserve their knowledge for future generations.
MARLENE BOOTH is an award-winning filmmaker and instructor in film at the University of Hawai‘i, who has worked in film since 1975. She has produced and directed several major documentary films screened on PBS, at national and international film festivals, and in classrooms nationwide. Her film PIDGIN: THE VOICE OF HAWAI‘I screened at HIFF 2009.
Animator LAURA MARGULIES creates by hand using oil paints, watercolors and gouache to create lush moving paintings in motion. From her commissioned works for Sundance and PBS to her personal films like HEPA! and ROLLING DOWN LIKE PELE, many of her animations are inspired by her work as a dancer and choreographer and her love of dance and music.
GOOD PITCH LOCAL HAWAI'I 2019
GOOD PITCH LOCAL HAWAI'I 2019 is a dynamic program aimed at generating support for projects that use media to bring new ways of seeing and understanding of the islands to the attention of participants from across the Pacific and around the world.
Created by Doc Society, in partnership with Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute, Good Pitch events have fostered collaboration and raised more than $30 million for media-based impact campaigns in 15 countries since 2008.
The inaugural invitation-only day-long forum took place at the Waiwai Collective in Honolulu on November 6, 2019, the day after the Pacific Islanders in Communications Media Makers Summit and the day before the opening of the Hawaii International Film Festival, assuring synergy and cross-fertilization of participants among all three events.
Good Pitch Local Hawai'i projects highlight issues ranging from climate change to cultural empowerment, conservation to immigration, policing, money in politics, and more - projects seeking to build communities of people who care about justice and equity from different perspectives, whose work can complement each other's and double efforts to achieve social good.
Each pitch was followed by a brief moderated conversation with the audience to stimulate encouragement and support for the projects, interspersed with presentations by other guests about important and inspiring work happening in our communities.
Good Pitch Local Hawaiʻi hopes to create more opportunities to bring events that inspire organizers, educators, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, media makers, policy advocates, and other agents of change.
Learn more at https://goodpitch.org/events/gplhi19
GPLHI Opening Protocol, Welcome, Moderator Intro
TEDX Mānoa: Maka Maoli
Storytelling Beyond Stereotypes
TEDx Mānoa is an independently organized event devoted to TED’s initiative to share their talks with the global community online at TED.com. In the fall of 2012, creatives and leaders in the community were invited to give talks for “NEW OLD WISDOM (NOW)” on topics focused around themes of native ingenuity, knowledge, and wisdom in 21st Century Hawaiʻi.
CONTACT
Say hello. Let's work together.
Complete the form or reach out via email at lisette@lehuafilms.com, or by phone at
808-956-5302.
If you are interested in obtaining a copy of a film for use in educational institutions, libraries or other organizations, please contact Lisette Flanary for institutional rates. Purchase orders can be emailed to lisette@lehuafilms.com.
Please note that companion discussion guides and educator's materials are available for films. Mahalo!