Faculty Grant Award: “Sovereign”, a documentary film project – co-directed by Dr. Noah Keone Viernes

Moku?ula, a traditional power center for the Hawaiian Kingdom, persists amid the cultural, ecological and archaeological legacies of Malu?ulu o Lele Park in Lahaina.

Dr. Noah Keone Viernes (Global Studies program) and co-director Sancia Miala Shiba Nash (Pu?uhonua Society/kekahi wahi/Ho?omau Nā Maka o ka ??ina) were recently awarded a Ho?ākea Source grant, the second of two funds supporting Sovereign, a 3-year documentary film project.

The film focuses on a series of legal cases surrounding Kanaka ???iwi community leader Ke?eaumoku Kapu and his struggle to reclaim ancestral land and natural resources in Kaua?ula, Lahaina on the island of Maui. Incorporating interviews, amplified soundscapes, and archival footage granted by ?Ulu?ulu: The Henry Ku?ualoha Giugni Moving Image Archive of Hawai?i and the Hawai?i Legacy Foundation, the film presents a complicated story of indigenous (“Kuleana”) land tenure enshrined in the legal framework of Hawaiian law.

Ke?eaumoku Kapu oversaw one of the archipelago?s largest collection of cultural artifacts at Nā ‘Aikāne o Maui cultural center. The center was burned to the ground in the August 2023 Lahaina Fire.

With a Hawai?i-based team, including cinematographer AJ Feducia and Hawaiian language educator Puaokamele Dizon, production for Sovereign began in 2022. Near the end of their filming, the August 2023 Lahaina fire engulfed the town, drawing attention to the fragility of land and water in the Hawaiian archipelago. Following the fires, national news agencies reached out to their film crew for footage of Nā ?Aikāne o Maui, a community space and cultural collection stewarded by Ke?eaumoku that was lost in the fire. This particular grant supports an animation of storied places by multi-media artist Shinya Akutagawa (Tokyo University of Art) and the digital mapping of Lahaina by Hawai?i artist and architect Sean Connelly (AFTEROCEANIC/ HAWAI?I NON-LINEAR).

From the Website: “Ho?ākea Source is a Regional Regranting Program Partner of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The Regional Regranting Program partners with local arts organizations around the country to make grants to artists and collectives for projects that chart new creative territory in their communities.” LINK TO ANNOUNCEMENT