TORONTO REEL ASIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: WAIKIKI

November 10 – 19, 2021

Buy tickets HERE.

Centre A is excited to partner with the 25th Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival as a community supporter for Waikiki, a film by Christopher Kahunahana.

ABOUT THE FILM

Kea can’t make ends meet, even while working as a hula dancer, karaoke-bar hostess, and elementary school Hawaiian-language teacher. After a violent altercation with her boyfriend, Kea accidentally hits a homeless man with her car. Not wanting to involve the authorities, she decides to take care of the mysterious man herself. But while she continues to struggle with her own financial hardship and difficulty finding housing, Kea’s downward spiral begins to reveal a deeply rooted trauma from her past. As her life careens out of control, so too does her grasp on the world around her. The film stars Danielle Zalopany, Peter Shinkoda, and Jason Quinn. 

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Christopher Kahunahana is a Sundance Institute Native Lab and Feature Film Program Alumni. As the founder of 4th World Film, he’s written and directed LAHAINA NOON and directed a short documentary for the Smithsonian Institute’s Asian Pacific American “A Day in the Life” project.

“Christopher Kahunahana’s captivating storytelling ventures beyond the world-famous titular tourist destination and strikes an aesthetic that is perhaps unfamiliar to those with cursory knowledge of idyllic Hawaii. Kahunahana’s juxtaposition of the latter against the cold concrete of looming and perpetual urban development casts a critical look at the gentrified waste of ecological decay, systemic poverty, and the enduring legacy of U.S. colonization, which haunts the faces and spaces of Kahunahana’s film. Waikiki is a critical contribution to the growing body of Native Hawaiian cinema.” — Kevin Lim 

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