Filmmaker Statement

Growing up in Hawaii, I trusted the island and its island ways would remain the same. That was, in part, why I left for New York City. But home did change when my mother died, taking the infrastructure of my Hawaii with her. I am interested in Hawaii's quiet, its vibrant hum, heartbreak and humanity. There are many stories that need to be told here: historical, folkloric, pedestrian, nationalistic. With this project, I'd like to engage the raw emotion of this place and people. In re-contextualizing grief as it is framed by Hawaii, my hope is to gently tarnish the expectation of paradise as perfection. Even here we grieve, even here we explore the more difficult parts of ourselves.