Kumu Hina

Jun 22, 2014

1h 15m

★ 6.6

A uniquely Hawaiian love story

Overview

A transgender Native Hawaiian teacher inspires a young girl to fulfill her destiny of leading the school's male hula troupe, even as she struggles to find love and a committed relationship in her own life.

Genres

Documentary

Production Companies

qWaves.com

ITVS

Pacific Islanders in Communications

Kumu Hina Trailers

Cast

Narrator

Leo Anderson Akana

Himself

Haemaccelo Kalu

Himself

Ho'Onani Kamai

Herself

Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

Describing herself as a 'street queen,' Johnson was a legendary fixture in New York City’s gay ghetto and a tireless voice for LGBT pride since the days of Stonewall, who along with fellow trans icon Sylvia Rivera, founded Street Transvestites Action Revolutionaries (S.T.A.R.), a trans activist group based in the heart of NYC’s Greenwich Village. Her death in 1992 was declared a suicide by the NYPD, but friends never accepted that version of events. Structured as a whodunit, with activist Victoria Cruz cast as detective and audience surrogate, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson celebrates the lasting political legacy of Johnson, while seeking to finally solve the mystery of her unexplained death.

4.7

Hold on Tight

Jul 28, 2011

A short documentary exploring the ways LGBT couples show affection, and how small interactions like holding hands in public can carry, not only huge personal significance, but also the power to create social change.

9.0

MINK!

Jun 23, 2022

Told by her daughter Wendy, MINK! chronicles the remarkable Patsy Takemoto Mink, a Japanese American from Hawai'i who became the first woman of color elected to the U.S. Congress, on her harrowing mission to co-author and defend Title IX, the law that transformed athletics for generations in America for girls and women.

3.0

Denial

Jun 5, 2016

Every day our changing climate pushes us closer to an environmental catastrophe, but for most the problem is easy to ignore. David Hallquist, a Vermont utility executive, has made it his mission to take on one of the largest contributors of this global crisis-our electric grid. But when his son Derek tries to tell his father's story, the film is soon derailed by a staggering family secret, one that forces Derek and David to turn their attention toward a much more personal struggle, one that can no longer be ignored. - Written by Aaron Woolf

8.0

Paris Is Burning

Mar 13, 1991

Where does voguing come from, and what, exactly, is throwing shade? This landmark documentary provides a vibrant snapshot of the 1980s through the eyes of New York City's African American and Latinx Harlem drag-ball scene. Made over seven years, PARIS IS BURNING offers an intimate portrait of rival fashion "houses," from fierce contests for trophies to house mothers offering sustenance in a world rampant with homophobia, transphobia, racism, AIDS, and poverty. Featuring legendary voguers, drag queens, and trans women — including Willi Ninja, Pepper LaBeija, Dorian Corey, and Venus Xtravaganza.

5.8

Out of State

Nov 4, 2017

Out of State is the unlikely story of native Hawaiians men discovering their native culture as prisoners in the desert of Arizona, 3,000 miles, and across the ocean, from their island home.

9.2

Moananuiākea: One Ocean, One People, One Canoe

Nov 18, 2018

From 2019 Maui Film Festival This powerful documentary celebrates the historic Malama Honua Worldwide Voyage that connected countless individuals and communities from around the globe. A voyage that also represented the fulfillment of the vision of Nainoa Thompson and his contemporaries, the passing of the mantle to the next generation of kanaka maoli who will retain the skills of their ancestors and perpetuate this tradition for generations to come so the legacy of Hokulea can last for 1,000 generations.

5.2

My Name Is Violeta

Jun 28, 2019

Violeta leads a normal life in a well-off family, with loving parents, surrounded by everything the heart of an eleven-year-old girl might wish for. But she hasn’t always been the pretty girl she is today; she was born a boy. At age 6, she baffled her parents (the famous adult movie stars Nacho Vidal and Franceska Jaimes) when she told them she wanted to be called and dress as a girl. After the initial shock, they decided to give her all their support on the long and tough road that will lead to her becoming a woman someday. Violeta faces many challenges, medical (such as deciding whether or not to take hormone-blockers to stop the development of masculine features as soon as puberty kicks in) and legal (obtaining an ID card with her new name and gender). Later, she may consider getting a sex reassignment procedure, or the possibility of becoming a mother through adoption.

0.0

Julia

Aug 31, 2013

Julia is a young transgender woman who left her home country of Lithuania. Now living in Germany, she walks the streets of Berlin, working as a prostitute to survive. This documentary revisits Julia over a ten-year period of her life.

0.0

Off in the Far Away Somewhere: Georgia O’Keeffe’s Hawaii

Jan 1, 2018

An original short film narrated by Academy Award-nominee Sigourney Weaver featuring excerpts from Georgia O’Keeffe’s personal letters to her husband written during her journey to and around the Hawaiian Islands.

9.0

Hawaii: A Voice for Sovereignty

Jun 1, 2009

The goal of Hawaii, a Voice for Sovereignty is to raise awareness of the issues that threaten the Hawaiians ancient and once-environmentally-sustainable culture. It is an epic documentary about Hawaiian spirituality and the peoples close connection to the land. It focuses on the complicated social, economic and ecological issues that have arisen in Hawaii since the overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani by the United States in 1893. For Hawaiians, sovereignty is the legal, political and moral right to live on and care for the land; build and grow a sustainable economy; protect natural resources; practice spiritual and cultural traditions; honor their ancestral past; and care for family and community. The film is in the voice of native Hawaiian people who address the issues they continue to face in their long struggle to regain sovereignty over their rights and the native lands lost after the U.S. businessmen and military overthrew the Kingdom of Hawaii.

6.7

Untold: Caitlyn Jenner

Aug 24, 2021

Caitlyn Jenner's unlikely path to Olympic glory was inspirational. But her more challenging road to embracing her true self proved even more meaningful.

7.7

Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii

Jan 14, 1973

A 1973 concert by Elvis Presley that was broadcast live via satellite on January 14, 1973. The concert took place at the Honolulu International Center in Honolulu and aired in over 40 countries across Asia and Europe. Viewing figures have been estimated at over 1 billion viewers world wide, and the show was the most expensive entertainment special at the time, costing $2.5 million.

7.0

We Are Mauna Kea

Aug 15, 2019

A depiction of the protests led by Native Hawaiians in an attempt to block the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on the volcano of Mauna Kea on the island of Hawaii.

4.0

I Don't Know

Nov 9, 1971

A truly major work, I Don’t Know observes the relationship between a lesbian and a transgender person who prefers to be identified somewhere in between male and female, in an expression of personal ambiguity suggested by the film’s title. This nonfiction film – an unusual, partly staged work of semi-verité – is the first of Spheeris’s films to fully embrace what would become her characteristic documentary style: probing, intimate, uncompromising. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2014.

Kumu Hina

Overview

Genres

Production Companies

Kumu Hina Trailers