i nā kiʻi ma mua, nā kiʻi ma hope / images at front, images at back, edited and compiled by grassroots film initiative kekahi wahi, offers an incomplete genealogy of experimental, documentary, and non-narrative filmmaking of Hawaiʻi across multiple generations from the 1970s to mid 2020s.

Edited by grassroots film initiative kekahi wahi, i nā kiʻi ma mua, nā kiʻi ma hope is structured around an eight-part screening series of the same name which was curated, organized, and presented between 2022 and 2024 in Honolulu, New York City, Annandale-on-Hudson, Akita City (Japan), and Cologne (Germany).

Through newly commissioned essays, roundtable discussions, reflections, poems, production notes, script excerpts, scores, short work descriptions, exhibition documentation and video stills, this publication offers an incomplete genealogy of experimental, documentary, and non-narrative filmmaking of Hawaiʻi across multiple generations from the 1970s to mid 2020s. 

Participating artists and filmmakers include: Justyn Ah Chong, Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina (Joan Lander and Puhipau), DB Amorin, Ha‘aheo Auwae-Dekker, Angelique “Ang” Kalani Axelrode, Brigitte “Gig” Leilani Axelrode, Vincent Bercasio with Madelyn Biven & Bradley Capello, Sean Connelly, Melina Kiyomi Coumas, Duncan Dempster, Sung Hwan Kim & David Michael DiGregorio, Leilehua Lanzilotti & Kevin Eikenberg, Léuli Eshrāghi, Richard Hamasaki, Vilsoni Hereniko, Christopher Kahunahana, KEANAHALA, Victoria Keith, Laura Margulies, Dan Taulapapa McMullin, Jane Chang Mi, Nicole Naone, e-nico, ʻĀina Paikai, Rap Reiplinger, Tiare Ribeaux, Sancia Miala Shiba Nash, Alec Yasunori Singer, Jakob Soto-Bauwens, Noah Keone Viernes, kekahi wahi, and Christopher Makoto Yogi.

 

Published by Tropic Editions, September 2025