Jalena Keane-Lee | USA | 85 min | Captions
Feature Film Screening: When the massive Thirty Meter Telescope is proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, an uprising of kiaʻi (protectors) in Hawaiʻi and around the world dedicate their lives to saving this sacred mountain from further destruction. Through the lens of mothers and daughters in three Native Hawaiian families, both on and off the mountain, this inspiring documentary offers an intimate journey that explores the physical and emotional toll of sustaining a grassroots movement, intergenerational healing, and the impacts of safeguarding cultural traditions.
DIRECTOR BIO
Jalena Keane-Lee (Director, Cinematographer, Producer) is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens. She was named a 2023 Adobe x Sundance Woman to Watch, and is the recipient of the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, Creative Culture woman filmmaker fellowship, Wyncote Fellowship and NeXt Doc Fellowship. Jalena is the winner of Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020 and DocPitch 2022. Her short films have streamed on POV and Criterion Collection, played at over 50 film festivals, and won best short at LA Asian Film Festival in 2020 and the Jury Award at Sundance in 2023. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all-women-of-color production company that has won two Cannes Lion awards for branded content.