2:40pm
Sat, Oct 08
Guam Museum Indoor Theatre
part of the Int’l. Drama Shorts A program
General Admission
$5.00 USD
at the door
(cash only)
Last Hawaiian Sugar
GRAND JURY AWARD NOMINEE – BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
US | 22 min. | Pacific Asia Premiere | Samoan and Hawaiian w/ English subtitles
Drama, Cultural, Environmental, Social Issues | GIFF Guide: Parental Guidance – some material may be inappropriate for children under 13
Synopsis
12-year-old Nua makes peace with the mixed emotions she has about the land she lives on when she learns the sugar plantation she calls home will be closed forever.
Last Hawaiian Sugar is a short drama set on the final remaining sugar cane plantation camp on Maui. Nua, twelve years-old, Samoan, identifies with the world through her intensely spiritual connection she has with the land. She is the product of this immigrant camp that “Big Sugar” brought to work these fields. On the very day Nua learns the mill is closing, she struggles to tell her mother about the abuse she suffers. When her mother isn’t able to hear her cries for help, Nua resolves to sabotage the final sugarcane burn as she prepares to say goodbye to the only home she has ever known.
Nua’s story is a metaphor for what has happened to the land due to industrialized farming, offers a rare look into the final days of commercial sugar production in Hawai‘i, and the Islands’ complicated relationship with the sugar industry. Last Hawaiian Sugar is a contemporary story reckoning a deep Hawaiian history; the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. produced its final harvest in 2016. This mill, on Maui, was permanently closed soon after and the last employees of HC&S were laid off.
Screenings and Awards
Hawaiʻi International Film Festival, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Dead Center Film Festival, Arizona International Film Festival, Made in Hawaiʻi Film Festival, CAAM fest, Masmia Film Tour 2022, DC Asian Film Festival, Asian American International Film Festival
Déjà Cresencia Bernhardt (Writer, Director)
Déjà is a filmmaker raised on Maui, Hawai’i who now resides between her family home in Bali, Indonesia and Austin, Texas. Déjà draws upon her diverse heritage, finding inspiration to tell both narrative and documentary stories — often informing one another. Her films have screened in festivals worldwide and won numerous awards, but more importantly, catapulted humanitarian work into the forefront of the global public eye. Déjà’s pre-thesis graduate film, The Midwife’s Husband (2012), was nominated for a Student Academy Award. Déjà’s documentary work has been globally influential in promoting humanitarian efforts in Africa, Indonesia, Haiti and beyond, including the award winning documentaries, Guerrilla Midwife (2010), and Tsunami Notebook (2009).
Her feature documentary Guerrilla Midwife shines a light on the work of her mother, I
bu Robin Lim, and propelled Lim to win CNN Hero of the Year and use that notoriety to bring efforts to underserved and underrepresented communities worldwide.
Déjà loves to create films that open hearts and connect people to their global and indigenous and global communities. She received her BFA from Maharishi International University and an MFA in Film Production at Radio-Televison-Film at University of Texas, Austin. Déjà recently completed production of Last Hawaiian Sugar, a prelude for her feature Half Angels — named one of top ten best unproduced screenplays by CAPE (Coalition for Asian Pacfics in Entertainment) & The BlackList(2019). Last Hawaiian Sugar is a PIC(Pacific Islanders in Communication) recipient and the ‘Ohina Lab Greenlight Winner 2019.
Website: https://www.lasthawaiiansugar.com/
Filomena Vaifale
Sisa Grey
Moses Goods
Steve Iwamoto
Hayden Jackson
Kamuela Kishida
Albert Ueligitone
Lead Producer: Gerard Elmore
Executive Producer: Jason Cutinella, Leanne K. Ferrer
Producer: Caleigh Dillon
Supervising Producer: Cheryl Hirasa
Co-Producer: Darrin Kaneshiro, Kaitlyn Ledzian, Anne Misawa
Cinematography by Anne Misawa
Music by Brian Satterwhite
Editing by Kyle Kosaki, Gerard Elmore
Casting by Akemi Bischoff
Production Design: Kat Wong
2nd unit AD: Conrad Lihilihi
Sound Department: Bastien Benkhelil (Foley Artist), Brad Engleking (Sound Designer), Tobi Nova (Sound Recordist)
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.