The Haumana
Nov 16, 2013
(Keo Woolford 2013, United States, Digital, 90 min)
Co-presented with Longhouse Media
Seattle premiere!
Actor Saitia Faaifo in attendance!
In the hula tradition, haumana is the Hawaiian term for students and a kumu is the master teacher. The haumana, Hawaiian-born artist Keo Woolford’s directorial debut chronicles the challenges of an unlikely candidate appointed as the new kumu of a high school boys’ hula class.
Jonny Kealoha is the charismatic host of a struggling Waikiki Polynesian lū`au show. To everyone’s surprise (including his own), he is appointed as the successor to a high school class when his former Kumu Hula (master hula teacher) passes away. He becomes as much a student as a teacher through the demands of leading the boys, and rediscovers the sanctity of the culture he had previously abandoned.