Ea depicts the living legacy of Keʻeaumoku Kapu, a Kanaka ʻŌiwi (Native Hawaiian) community leader, activist, and caretaker of Maui’s Cultural Center. The Kapu family gives voice to a multi-generational struggle to perpetuate native land and water management practices, stifled for over a century by plantation agriculture, the U.S.-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, militourism and real estate development. Archival and contemporary projections of songs, chants, animations, digital cartography, field recordings, legal texts, and interviews offer a reflection on Kapuʻs nearly 20-year battle—in and out of the U.S. court system—to reclaim his ancestral land in Kauaʻula valley. Ea is a testament to the resilience of one family, whose efforts serve as guidance for their community, as well as future generations pursuing land and water rights across the Hawaiian archipelago.
Screening: Friday, May 15th, 11:28 AM-12:38 PM, The Shedd Recital Hall
Length: 70 min
Country: USA
Language: English, Hawaiian
Director(s): Noah Keone Viernes, Sancia MIala Shiba Nash
Producer(s): Noah Keone Viernes, Lance Collins
Distributor: NBWMBF