Film Screening: Tadashi Nakamura's "MELE MURALS" (THURS NOV 16, 6:30PM)

The Center for Ethnomusicology and the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race (CSER) at Columbia University are proud to present a film screening and conversation with director Tadashi Nakamura:

MELE MURALS

A Film by Tadashi Nakamura 
A production of ʻŌiwi TV and Pacific Islanders in Communications, in association with Center for Asian American Media

Mele Murals is a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture for a new generation of Native Hawaiians. At the center of the story are two renowned street artists - Estria Miyashiro (aka Estria) and John Hina (aka Prime) - a group of Native Hawaiian youth, and the rural community of Waimea. 

Set against the resurgence of Hawaiian language and culture of the past twenty years, Estria and Prime tell how their street art has taken them on personal journeys to discover their history, identity and responsibilities as Hawaiian people. Estria, who left Hawai'i to study art in San Francisco, made a name for himself as an internationally known graffiti artist before returning to reconnect with his Hawaiian roots. Prime, who grew up in the projects and became one of the first kings of the Honolulu graffiti scene, left a life of hustling and drugs after the birth of his first child and returned to the art when he realized it was a way to help youth. 

Through the stories of these two graffiti artists and their joint quest to uphold Hawaiian culture through mural-making, Mele Murals shows how public art rooted in underground graffiti unexpectedly but powerfully fuses with Native Hawaiian traditions and contemporary life to impact the students, the town of Waimea, and most of all the artists.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/155597960

About the Director

Tadashi Nakamura was named one of CNN’s Young People Who Rock for being the youngest filmmaker at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. His last film "Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings" (NEA funded) was broadcasted nationally on PBS in 2013 and went on to win the 2013 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award. Nakamura’s trilogy of films on the Japanese American experience, "Yellow Brotherhood" (2003), "Pilgrimage" (2007) and "A Song for Ourselves" (2009) have garnered over 20 awards at film festival

Informational Links:

Website: http://www.melemurals.com

Awards

Best Documentary Feature - One Nation Film Festival, 2017

Best Documentary Feature – Asian American Film Festival of Oregon, 2017

Best Documentary Feature - Guam International Film Festival, 2016

Best Documentary Feature - Monarch Film Festival, 2016

Best Documentary Audience Award – Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Fest, 2017

Best Documentary Audience Award - Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, 2016

Best Documentary Audience Award - CAAMFest San Jose, 2016

Special Jury Award - International Pacific Documentary Film Festival, 2017

Special Jury Award - Hawai'i International Film Festival, 2016

Special Jury Award - Santa Cruz Film Festival, 2016

Best Editing – Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, 2017

Gold Kahuna Award – Honolulu Film Festival, 2017

Keepers of Culture Award – Fist Up Film Festival, 2017

Remi Special Jury Award – WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival, 2017

National Endowment for the Arts Media Arts, 2015