The moving and inspirational Na Kamalei has the distinction of being the first movie to sell out in this year's San Francisco Int'l Asian-American Film Festival -- and the buzz only got better once the SFIAAFF announced that local San Francisco hula troupe Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu would perform before the screening. We met up with SFist Jim at the AMC 1000 lobby, and he took the gorgeous picture above. (We took some pictures too, but the place was so crowded and we're so short we had a hard time seeing anything. Also, Jim is a much better photographer than we are.)
The theater was filled with aloha spirit and Hawaiian-print shirts, and the line for rush tickets was around the building by 5:30 p.m. (for a 7 p.m. screening). We've never seen one of those huge theaters in the AMC 1000 filled for a documentary before! Before the movie screened, they did a show of hands, and it looked like maybe one-fourth of the ticket holders were hula dancers themselves.
Na Kamalei is the second in a three-part documentary series that director Lisette Flanary is filming about hula dancing, and this one focuses on an all male hula troupe in Honolulu. The troupe director (hulu kumu), Robert Cazimero, is a legend in the Hawaiian music scene, and the movie focuses on his troupe Halau Na Kamalei's 2005 training and performance for the top hula dancing competition in the world, the Merrie Monarch Festival for their 30th anniversary.
Male friendship, Hawaiian pride, and the thrill of competition, after the jump -- along with more pictures of Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu.
Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula is an immensely likeable movie that goes through the history of hula (did you know hula dancing is an offshoot of a Hawaiian martial art?), a brief history of indigenous Hawaiian arts and culture, and then focuses in on the specific culture of male hula dancing.
Kumu hulu kumu Cazimero speaks eloquently of his love of Hawaiian culture and the need to pass the tradition of male hula dance to the next generation -- in fact, his dancers are the only all-male hula troupe in Hawaii. And the male dancers themselves credit hula for forging deep and lasting friendships, keeping them in touch with their heritage, and for making them better people in general. Warning: there are a lot of feelings in this movie, so those of you uncomfortable with the open expression of male emotions should be prepared. (And shallowly, we can't say we didn't enjoy all the shots of attractive shirtless men either. Fun!)
The training sessions are sports practices (with the obligatory shouting at lackluster performances and threatening to throw people off the team that marks pretty much every all-male group out there), and the dance sequences are beautifully shot. Plus -- we love a good competition movie! We found some footage of the troupe from the 2005 Merrie Monarchs competition, but don't click on it if you don't want to spoil the movie. (We're having trouble running the video but maybe you'll have better luck than us. For some reason, there's no footage of Halau Na Kamalei on YouTube either. Rats.)
For those of you disappointed that you couldn't get into last night's screening, the SFIAAFF is going to try to rescreen it (check at that link) if they can find a movie house. (It looks beautiful on the big screen.) If they can't get that arranged, the next screening will be (per Lisette Flanary) on PBS's Independent Lens some time in the 2007-2008 series. Her next movie's going to be about hula dancing in Japan, and we can't wait!
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That pic wooks like phallic worship.
Im very please to hear how well the film did in your town. I being a hula dancer on O'ahu am very delighted with the turnout. Thank you for sharing the story on you website so others can enjoy it.
Just one comment. In the article you mentioned "Hulu Kumu Robert Cazimero" it should actually be "Kumu Hula Robert Cazimero".
I enjoyed your article. Thank you again.
keola aka:Bully
Thanks for the correction, ola, and thanks for reading the site! I'll fix it right now.
Enjoyed the article. Wish there was a video clip attached. Any information where another showing will be?