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Ke Kulana He Mahu: Remembering a Sense of Place, 67 minutes, VHS (Digital Video), color, 2001. Written by Kathryn Xian; directed by Kathryn Xian and Brent Anbe; produced by Kathryn Xian, Jaymee Carvajal, Brent Anbe, and Connie M Florez; distributed by Zang Pictures, Inc., Honolulu. Individuals us$39.95; institutions US$195.00.
This documentary relates a tale of how colonialism profoundly transformed Kanaka Maoli (indigenous Hawaiian) society and the forms of love that are acceptable in "the land of aloha." By contrasting the diversity of gender and sexual practices in precolonial times with the stigmatization and marginalization of transgendered and gay people in Hawaii today, the film asks us to ponder a question posed by Kanaka Maoli activist Ku'umealoha Gomes at the beginning of the film: "Where did the change come from?" The question is a rhetorical one, and the film does not provide any explicit answers; rather, it forces us to draw our own conclusions by making sense of the montage of testimonies, interviews, dance performances, old photographs, artistic renderings, and scenes of ocean and landscapes presented to us.
The film can be divided roughly into three sections. The first part examines kulana (place, station, status, rank) in Kanaka Maoli society and culture of the mahu, a term that was originally used for both "hermaphrodites" and for transgendered males and females. Kanaka Maoli and non-Kanaka Maoli scholars, activists, archivists, and kumu hula (Hawaiian dance instructors) all affirm the acceptance of mahd in traditional society. MAd are interviewed and featured as important cultural educators and practitioners, and they perform ol (chants) and hula kahiko (traditional dance). Interviewees then relate a familiar story of colonial decay as they describe the ways that the adoption of western law, Christianity, and a cash-based economy, along with the widespread loss of life and land (caused by disease and foreign intrusion), threatened to wipe out Kanaka...