ʻĀina Paikai (Writer, Director)

ʻĀina Paikai is from Waiau, on the island of O‘ahu. He is a Native Hawaiian filmmaker determined to tell the stories of his homeland. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s Academy for Creative Media under the tutelage of pioneer filmmaker, Merata Mita.

ʻĀina has spent the past 10 years, the entirety of his professional career, as a shooter/producer/editor for ‘ŌiwiTV, learning from accomplished filmmaker and businessman, Nāʻālehu Anthony. As part of ʻŌiwiTV, he has been fortunate enough to experience traveling the world, most recently as a crewmember and documentarian aboard Hōkūleʻa during the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage.

He has recently retired from ʻŌiwiTV to spend more time with his budding family, wife Annemarie and two young children, as well as focus on pursuing his passion of narrative filmmaking in Hawaiʻi. ʻĀina is a GIFF 2019 alum with his film Down on the Sidewalk in Waikīkī.

Website: https://www.hawaiiansoulmovie.com/

Funding has been provided to Guam International Film Festival, Inc. from Humanities Guåhan and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as part of the federal ARP Act of 2021.