Kumu Hina
| KUMU HINA | |
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| Directed by | Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson |
| Produced by | Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson |
| Music by | Makana, Kealiʻi Reichel |
| Cinematography | Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, Connie M. Florez, Fred Vanderpoel, John Kuamoo, Cindy Iodice |
| Edited by | Nels Bangerter |
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Production
company |
Qwaves and Independent Television Service in association with Pacific Islanders in Communicationas
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| Distributed by | Passion River, Alexander Press |
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Release date
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Running time
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77 minutes (feature); 53 minutes (PBS) |
| Country | Hawaii (USA), Fiji |
| Language | English, Hawaiian, Tongan |
| Budget | $410,000 |
Kumu Hina is a 2014 documentary film by Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson and is the story of Hina Wong-Kalu. It premiered at the Hawaii International Film Festival and aired on Independent Lens, a PBS program, in May 2015.
Hina Wong-Kalu is a māhū (transgender) Native Hawaiian kumu (teacher), activist and cultural icon. During the year covered by the film, Kumu Hina mentors a young girl student who wants to join the all-male hula group in her school, even as she seeks a committed romantic relationship with a young man from Tonga.
Kumu Hina won the Documentary Jury award at the Frameline Film Festival and the Audience Award as the most popular documentary among voting viewers for the 2014-2015 season of Independent Lens. In 2016, the film won Outstanding Documentary from the GLAAD Media Awards.
Filmmaker Magazine called the film "a stunning eye-opener", while Indiewire considered it "incredibly poignant and moving", and Yes! Magazine commended the film for "lift(ing) the veil on the misunderstood and marginalized experience of “other” gendered individuals whose identity cannot be defined by the broad strokes of contemporary Western categorization.
The filmmakers initiated an education campaign to bring Kumu Hina's message to diverse audiences. The campaign was inaugurated at an event at the Ford Foundation, and includes a short children's version of the film, A Place in the Middle'', and teaching and classroom discussion guides.
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