Nathaniel Hansen: professor, director, producer, and friend.
A close friend of mine, Nathaniel Hansen, is working on a documentary focused on the elderly Polynesian of my home town of Laie, Hawaii. Nathaniel has done previous work focusing on the bridge the elderly create to the past in any community. Now he’s taking that concept and placing it over the unique and amazing place I grew up on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii. The title of the documentary is Kūpuna and it is a story that is begging to be told, but can only be told through the voices of those who have lived through so much of the 20th century and into the new millennium.
In Nathaniel’s own words, Kūpuna is an interactive documentary portrait of Laie, a small Hawaiian town on the island of O’ahu. The project combines personal documentary portraits, oral histories, storytelling and performances, animations depicting important cultural myths, and interactive historical and geographic data.
Laie, where the original Hukilau started.
Why I Care About Kupuna
I feel so connected to this project because even though my ethnic background is Caucasian and from the Western United States, I am so much more connected to Polynesia because I’ve spent my whole life in Hawaii instead of the continental United States. More so, I feel connected to this project because I’ve seen the Hawaii that I grew up with slowly disappear. Laie is no longer the Hawaii I grew up with that I can give to my kids. My family moved to Laie in 1986 when I was 6 years old. The Laie of 1986 is far gone. The community feeling is gone, the rural sense is gone, the reasonable price of a home is completely gone, and now there’s a huge exodus of locals leaving Laie because no one can afford to live there or buy a home. So what I’m saying is that I feel a strong sense of urgency about this project.
I love the idea that the Kupuna can stop the sun and connect us to the past in a way that nothing else can. I believe that this project is a unique opportunity to connect to the past in an urgent way because like I just said, the Hawaii of my childhood is already gone. I don’t want more of Hawaii’s magical essence lost before others, like my own children, have a chance to know what really makes Hawaii, and more specifically Laie, such a magical place.
So, here’s my call to action. Please watch Nathaniel’s trailer video below. I hope it inspires you. And if it does, please go to his fundraising page on Kickstarter and donate some money. If they don’t make the deadline for this project I fear a lot of the magica of Hawaii will slowly be lost as we plug along in our busy lives.
***UPDATE*** This project was fully funded on Kickstarter. Congratulations to Nathaniel and his team.
Kūpuna from Nathaniel Hansen on Vimeo.
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