This year’s Los Angeles Pasifika Film Festival highlighted Pasifika excellence, emphasizing the importance of empowering and building capacity within the Native Hawaiian & Pacific islander community.
California State University Los Angeles and Island City Media’s partnership helped establish a platform celebrating Pasifika storytelling!
Resembling traditional film screenings featuring works from Micronesian, Polynesian, and Melanesian filmmakers, the La Pasifika film fest also hosted industry panels. building off last year’s inaugural filmf festival, this year they included “Talk Story” workshop, moderated by Dr. Lani Cupchoy, a Kānaka Maoli Historian-filmmaker. She brought on a few colleagues of hers on the panel consisting of indigenous storytellers and scriptwriters. Amongst the panelists included screenwriter-televisionwriter Freddie Gutierrez (CHamoru), actress Lindsay Watson (Kānaka Maoli), and actors David Tu’itupou (Tongan) and Setaleki Manu (Tongan).
The workshop was centered on the art of indigenous storytelling, comedy, and scriptwriting, offering all those who attended a unique opportunity to learn from those in the industry. Through sharing their experiences and insights, the workshop was aimed to inspire and equip participants with the tools and knowledge needed to tell their own stories, preserving and promoting their rich cultural heritage through filmmaking.
be sure to follow @lapasifikafilmfest on instagram for more news and information on upcoming events and opportunities.
