Reel Wahine of Hawai'i

- Season 3

(2022)

Visual artist and filmmaker Meleanna Aluli Meyer makes documentaries about building pride, understanding, and support of Hawaiian families and culture from an insider's perspective, including Puamana, about her beloved Aunty Irmgard Farden Aluli, a well-known musician and composer; and Hookuikahi - To Unify as One. Kuu Aina Aloha - My Beloved Country is currently in production.

If you have watched television in Hawaii, chances are you have seen the work of Joy Chong-Stannard (Betrayal, Ka Hana Kapa, Biography Hawaii, Bread and Roses). Her career as a director of live television and documentaries for public television spans forty years. Her documentary work explores local culture, the dynamic social and economic upheavals of Hawaii's history, and its impact on everyday working people in our Islands.

Documentarian Joan Lander (Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation), along with her longtime partner Puhipau Ahmad, was on the ground, camera in hand, documenting Hawaii history as it happened in the 1970s, '80s, and on to the present. They produced seminal films documenting important political and cultural happenings of the Hawaiian Renaissance as well as a wealth of vital indigenous knowledge.

HINALEIMOANA WONG-KALU wrote and co-directed the Oscar-qualified animated short film KAPAEMAHU, which recounts an ancient story of four extraordinary beings of dual male and female spirit who brought the healing arts to Hawaii.

Director/producer Kimberlee Bassford juggles filmmaking with teaching and raising a young son and daughter. Her films feature powerful female protagonists, including Cheerleader (Student Academy Award), WINNING GIRL (PBS broadcast), and Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority about the first U.S. congresswoman of color who co-authored Title IX, which mandated equal treatment for women and men in education.

Director/producer/writer Zoe Eisenberg (Cashback, Stoke, Aloha from LavaLand) is one of only three women to direct a narrative feature film in Hawaii. Strong women protagonists are central to her work, as are the lava, landscapes, and people of the lush rural Puna District where she lives on the Big Island of Hawaii. Eisenberg is also the co-founder of the Made in Hawaii Film Festival.