Six new films spotlight the creativity, inspiration and legacy of Hawai‘i’s pioneering women filmmakers who tell unique, local stories through a camera lens. Reel Wāhine of Hawai‘i Season 3 features Meleanna Aluli Meyer, Joy Chong-Stannard, Joan Lander, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Kimberlee Bassford and Zoë Eisenberg. Produced by Hawai‘i Women in Filmmaking, each film is a collaboration between a female Hawai‘i director and an aspiring young woman filmmaker which she mentors through the creative process. https://reelwahineofhawaii.org

Documentarian Joan Lander (Act of War: The Overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation), along with her longtime partner Puhipau Ahmad, was on the ground, camera in hand, documenting Hawai‘i history as it happened in the 1970s, '80s, and on to the present. They produced seminal films documenting important political and cultural happenings of the Hawaiian Renaissance as well as a wealth of vital indigenous knowledge. Directed by Vera Zambonelli.

Director/producer/writer Zoë Eisenberg (Cashback, Stoke, Aloha from LavaLand) is one of only three women to direct a narrative feature film in Hawai‘i. Strong women protagonists are central to her work, as are the lava, landscapes, and people of the lush rural Puna District where she lives on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. Eisenberg is also the co-founder of the Made in Hawai‘i Film Festival. Directed by Shirley Thompson.

Director/producer Kimberlee Bassford juggles filmmaking with teaching and raising a young son and daughter. Her films feature powerful female protagonists, including Cheerleader (Student Academy Award), WINNING GIRL (PBS broadcast), and Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority about the first U.S. congresswoman of color who co-authored Title IX, which mandated equal treatment for women and men in education. Directed by Vera Zambonelli

If you have watched television in Hawai‘i, chances are you have seen the work of Joy Chong-Stannard (Betrayal, Ka Hana Kapa, Biography Hawai'i, Bread & Roses). Her career as a director of live television and documentaries for public television spans forty years. Her documentary work explores local culture, the dynamic social and economic upheavals of Hawaiʻi’s history, and its impact on everyday working people in our Islands. Directed by Anne Misawa.

Visual artist and filmmaker Meleanna Aluli Meyer makes documentaries about building pride, understanding, and support of Hawaiian families and culture from an insider’s perspective, including Puamana, about her beloved Aunty Irmgard Farden Aluli, a well-known musician and composer; and Hoʻokuʻikahi - To Unify as One. Kuʻu ʻĀina Aloha - My Beloved Country is currently in production. Directed by Erin Lau.

HINALEIMOANA WONG-KALU wrote and co-directed the Oscar-qualified animated short film KAPAEMAHU, which recounts an ancient story of four extraordinary beings of dual male and female spirit who brought the healing arts to Hawai‘i. A Native Hawaiian teacher, cultural practitioner and filmmaker, Wong-Kalu was both a protagonist and educational advisor for the award winning documentaries KUMU HINA and A PLACE IN THE MIDDLE. She co-directed and co-produced the award-winning PBS/ARTE documentary LEITIS IN WAITING about her transgender sisters in the Kingdom of Tonga. Filmmaker: Heather H. Giugni

Six new films spotlight the creativity, inspiration and legacy of Hawai‘i’s pioneering women filmmakers who tell unique, local stories through a camera lens. Reel Wāhine of Hawai‘i Season 3 features Meleanna Aluli Meyer, Joy Chong-Stannard, Joan Lander, Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Kimberlee Bassford and Zoë Eisenberg. Produced by Hawai‘i Women in Filmmaking, each film is a collaboration between a female Hawai‘i director and an aspiring young woman filmmaker which she mentors through the creative process. https://reelwahineofhawaii.org