This past weekend, our film, Voices of Kapaʻa Town, premiered at the Doris Duke Theater in Honolulu as part of the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival. We were joined by our 4 year old daughter, Makaʻalohi, Tina’s Grandma Verlie (who is featured in the film), as well as friends and family who came out to support our work. We were so moved by the audienceʻs reactions to the film and, for Tina, it was an honor to share the history of her home town.
This “talk story” style documentary short was the first film we ever made on Kauaʻi. Only a couple months before we started shooting, Franz had lost his job due to the pandemic, and we suddenly relocated to Kauaʻi to be closer to family support. During this time, we decided to lean into our business to generate income. We were offered an opportunity to work with the Old Kapaʻa Town Business Hui to create a video featuring the unique history of Kapaʻa Town. At the time, we had no idea it would one day be accepted into a film festival. We are so grateful for this creative journey and hope more of our work will be viewed by wider audiences.