Palikū Documentary Films
Background and objective
For indigenous story tellers, there is wealth of stories, traditional knowledge, current news, information, and amazing “content” about indigenous peoples that needs to be told by indigenous peoples and shared with a broad audience and a variety of stakeholders. Palikū Documentary Film’s (PDF), along with key partners in Hawaiʻi, like the ʻAha Pūnana Leo, ʻŌiwiTV, Makauila, Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina as well as all of the stations of the World Indigenous Broadcasters Network (WITBC) have been trying to tackle this “broad-based distribution” component of storytelling.
The current project builds on Palikū Documentary Film’s (PDF) work on a film to showcase what it looks and sounds like for indigenous languages to truly live and thrive in their own homelands, despite not being the dominant language or political power in their region. Resources will allow for a more thorough due diligence, relationship building, and informed consent of the communities being considered. The project will also allow for simultaneous research and an initial development phase of a multi-media interactive indigenous information portal.
The ultima the output is a well-(pre)-produced film. Pre-production is important for any film but given the importance we place not only on the story itself but the “way” we tell the story, being able to truly connect to the community ensure an even deeper value and impact for the piece.A more short- term result, prior to the completion of the film is developing relationships with these communities that we as a Hawaiian language movement overall haven’t had a lot of interaction with, unlike our Pacific and even Native American cousins.
Local partner information
From 2008 to 2012, Palikū Documentary Films (PDF) was the production company for ʻĀhaʻi ‘Ōlelo Ola, the first daily native language news series to broadcast on a mainstream network affiliate (KGMB and HawaiiNewsNow). The 4-year partnership with the ʻAha Pūnana Leo, the leader in the Hawaiian language revitalization movement, resulted in more than 1,000 news segments and 40 half-hour episodes that furthered the normalization of Hawaiian language. Since 2012, PDF has collaborated with ʻŌiwi Television Network in continuing this valuable service that celebrates the unique language and people of Hawaiʻi.
