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UNDERCURRENTS

@undercurrents_hi

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hamajang community cinema by @knottheory screening innovative + nonfic film in HNL
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(relaunching with our for real logo, and more information on our activities) UNDERCURRENTS is an intermittently convened film club screening innovative and nonfiction films in Honolulu, launching in early 2026. We're interested in: 🌊 Unique perspectives on living in islands, by coasts, in the tropics, from the watery, riverine, marshy parts of our world; 🪨 Films which build solidarity through resistance against and across national and colonially-imposed borders; 🔮 Experiments in form, narrative, and process which expand the possibilities of this thing called "cinema"; 🎬 Education for local filmmakers: work-in-progress screening opportunities, informal film workshops, and promoting film criticism from Hawai‘i and the wider Pacific We believe in the power of collective viewing and alternative exhibition and distribution practices. Catch you soon! by @undercurrents_hi
4
9 months ago
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A SAM NEILL DOUBLE FEATURE: CINEMA OF UNEASE (Sam Neill & Judy Rymer, 1995, 56 min.) followed by POSSESSION (Andrzej Żuławski, 1981, 124 min.) Sunday, September 6 Hawai‘i International Film Festival Office 3512 Wai‘alae Ave Doors at 5:40 PM 6:00 PM: CINEMA OF UNEASE 7:00 PM: POSSESSION $10 suggested donation An essay by Hana Pera Aoake will accompany the screening. Hana Pera Aoake (Ngāti Mahuta, Ngāti Hinerangi, Tainui/Waikato) is an artist, writer and PhD candidate, living at the foot of Pūtauaki in Aotearoa. Hana has published three books, and a fourth book, “On how to be”, which will be released later this year with Discipline in Australia. Their writing is primarily concerned with criticism as a means of ensuring the ongoing recording of making within contemporary Māori art, writing and film. ----- Written and co-directed by the late Sam Neill, Cinema of Unease is a vital reflection on New Zealand film history. Playfully personal and intellectually subversive, Neill’s thesis of a national “cinema of unease”—defined by settler-colonial anxiety and insecurity, and anchored by the figure of the Man Alone against society and the wilderness—identified a Gothic, masculinist sensibility running through New Zealand cinema. 30 years on, it’s safe to say that a reputational change has occurred, with directors like Taika Waititi turning quirky comedies into some of the country’s biggest cultural exports. Yet Neill’s observations cannot be dismissed as irrelevant. They speak back to a film industry that remains eager to smooth over the contradictions of the past. We’re pairing Cinema of Unease with a profoundly uneasy film, Andrzej Żuławski’s Possession. Pallid and delirious, Neill and co-star Isabelle Adjani orbit each other in a collapsing, psychosexual Cold War nightmare. A fractured relationship, a monstrous presence, a divided, strangely vacant city, and the shrieks that echo through it: these are the (often imitated, never duplicated) elements which make up Żuławski’s abject cosmos. Presented in memory of Sam Neill and Leo Koziol. taken in Hawai‘i International Film Festival by @undercurrents_hi
2
a month ago
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Please join us at ‘Awa Hou on Saturday, September 5 at 6 PM for a free screening of ALIPATO AT MUOG, followed by a Q&A with director JL Burgos. Doors at 5:40. Presented with support from Anakbayan Hawai‘i, Filipino Artists Movement, Hawai‘i Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, and Hawai‘i Filipinos for Truth, Justice, and Democracy. Alipato at Muog is JL Burgos’s impassioned documentary about the nearly two-decades-and-counting search for his brother, beloved farmer-activist Jonas Burgos. Jonas was abducted by police in 2007 at a shopping mall in broad daylight, a brazen crime that brought his family face-to-face with powerful governmental forces. At the forefront of this search is Edita, his 80-year-old mother, and her other son, filmmaker JL Burgos. Presented through testimonials from their lawyer, a reporter, a former Justice Secretary and Human Rights Commission Chair, and witnesses who agreed to appear on condition of anonymity, combined with animation and never-before-seen footage of the family’s relentless search, JL pieces the stories together to uncover the painful truths about his brother’s disappearance. Initially censored in the Philippines with an X-rating (which banned the film from public theatrical distribution), Alipato at Muog has gone on to win some of the country’s highest film awards. JL Burgos is an independent filmmaker and visual artist whose work focuses on human rights. His full-length documentaries include Portraits of Mosquito Press (2015) and Han-Ayan (2017). Over 25 years, Burgos has worked on short films, experimental videos, public service announcements, web series, and a TV show, serving as a director, cinematographer, editor, scriptwriter, and producer. Burgos is also the proponent of Stop The Attacks, a campaign by artists for artists who have been victims of constant red-tagging and harassment by the state. He is a board member of Surian ng Sining, a national cultural institute of artists, writers, and cultural workers. taken in Awa Hou by @undercurrents_hi
3
a month ago
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Some snaps from our events to date. Mahalo to everyone who has showed up to and supported our screenings. Too many people to tag. More events on the way! 📸 by @knottheory @colelovesdog @alfrdbordallo Meme by @thememenos by @undercurrents_hi
6
5 months ago
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UNDERCURRENTS presents MILITARY FATIGUES, a program of words and films connecting Hawaiʻi, Guåhan, and Palestine. Aupuni Space April 18 / 6:30 PM (doors at 6:00 PM) $10 suggested donation (a portion of proceeds will be donated to The Sameer Project, a Palestinian-led mutual aid initiative) Featuring Siobhon Rumurang McManus, Alfred Bordallo, and Razan AlSalah 6:30 PM: reading by Emerson Goo, from “The Shape of the Sky” by Siobhon Rumurang 6:45 PM: screening of DIGITAL CAMOUFLAGE (Alfred Bordallo, 2024) and A STONE’S THROW (Razan AlSalah, 2024) (total runtime: 70 min.) 8:00 PM: Q&A with Alfred Bordallo, moderated by Emerson Goo How do we chronicle the degradation of the environment through militarization? How does the infrastructure of warfare and occupation become part of everyday life? These films blend personal histories and sociopolitical analysis, assembling a counter-archive of military activities. In DIGITAL CAMOUFLAGE, Alfred Bordallo glitches the history of Guam into a polemic against its instrumentalization as a US base, reimagining the ways that CHamoru people have resisted and existed under American imperialism. A STONE’S THROW follows Amine, a Palestinian elder, who is exiled twice from land and labor — from Haifa to Beirut to a Gulf offshore oil platform. Through his story, Razan AlSalah narrates a semi-aqueous history of labor, tourism, and revolt that spans the Gulf and centers Palestine as a wellspring of resistance against petrocolonial infrastructures. To open the evening, UNDERCURRENTS curator/founder Emerson Goo will read an excerpt from “The Shape of the Sky” by Siobhon Rumurang. Siobhon’s essay originally appeared in the zine “the earth is our country” (2024) and is forthcoming in “Na’huyong: An Anthology of CHamoru Literature” (University of Guam Press, 2026). taken in Aupuni Space by @undercurrents_hi
8
6 months ago
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Hawai’i Exclusive Screening BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions by Kahlil Joseph We’re thrilled to bring this multi-dimensional film to Hawai’i for its only local screening. BLKNWS mirrors the sonic textures of a record album as it weaves fiction and history — fictionalized W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey moving through a curated stream of news clips, social media, and cultural artifacts alongside artists, musicians, and Joseph’s own family. An unflinching, immersive mixtape of Black consciousness and the richness of Black life. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion hosted by @popoloproject. Join us for this one night only showing. Monday, March. 23, 2026. 7PM Kailua Cinemas, O’ahu Tickets at ninipopublic.works or DM us for link (Tickets not available at Kailua Cinemas) ** As usual, seating is limited so we suggest grabbing tix early** KAHLIL JOSEPH is an acclaimed artist and filmmaker whose work dismantles conventional storytelling, using sound and image to conjure lyricism, depth, and complexity. Mahalo nui to @richspiritfilms for allowing us to have this community screening. by @undercurrents_hi
6
7 months ago
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On Sunday, March 22, please join us at Third Space @3rdspacehonolulu for a screening of Sayun Simung’s new documentary feature, SPI (2025). We are delighted that Sayun will join us virtually for a Q&A with the audience after the film, moderated by Tiffany Beam! Third Space at Harbors Vintage March 22 / 6:00PM (doors at 5:30PM) followed by a Q&A with Sayun Simung $10 suggested donation Your donations keep UNDERCURRENTS running! In Tayal tradition, “spi”, which means “to dream”, is a way of connecting with one’s ancestors. After her grandfather’s passing, director Sayun Simung’s family is disoriented by grief. When her teenage cousin becomes pregnant, her grandmother’s disappointment reveals generational gaps and cultural divides. From time to time, the grandfather appears in their dreams. Weaving her family’s story and her own quest to revitalize her Tayal heritage, the director traces a route between modernity and Indigenous memory. Sayun Simung is a filmmaker from the Tayal Sqoyaw community in Taiwan. She graduated from the Department of Broadcasting and Television at the National Taiwan University of Arts. She established Taiwan’s first Indigenous Film Academy in 2022, aiming to nurture a new generation of filmmakers and strengthen cultural narratives through film. Her films have screened at festivals such as the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and the Montreal International Documentary Festival. She participated in the Taiwan delegation at the 13th Festival of Pacific Arts & Culture in Hawaiʻi. Tiffany Beam is a child of the Taiwanese Hakka diaspora. She is an artist-scholar, curator, and educator based in Honolulu. Tiffany is getting a PhD in political theory at UH Mānoa, where she also teaches critical art theory. Her work takes a queer performance, hydrofeminist approach to cultural politics at the intersections of Asian diaspora and Pacific Indigeneity. Tiffany was a 2025 fellow in the Gwangju Biennale international curators academy. taken in Harbors Vintage by @undercurrents_hi
0
7 months ago
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Throughout March, catch COMPENSATION (1999) by Zeinabu irene Davis at the @honolulumuseum Doris Duke Theatre (and also check out the 2026 Honolulu African American Film Festival, happening there this month). March 12, 21*, & 26 all screenings 2:00PM $15 / 18 and under free *March 21 screening introduced by Emerson Goo @knottheory A landmark of independent cinema, Compensation is Zeinabu irene Davis’s moving, ambitious portrait of the struggles of Deaf African Americans and the complexities of loving relationships at the bookends of the twentieth century. In extraordinary dual performances, Michelle A. Banks and John Earl Jelks play Malindy and Arthur, a couple in 1910 Chicago, as well as Malaika and Nico, a couple living in the same city almost eighty years later. Their stories are deftly interwoven through the creative use of archival photography, an original score featuring ragtime and African percussion, and an editing style both lyrical and tender. Malindy, an industrious, intelligent dressmaker, falls for Arthur, an illiterate migrant from Mississippi, along the shore of Lake Michigan. On the same beach in the present, Malaika, an inspired and resilient graphic artist, softens before a brash yet endearing children’s librarian, Nico. Each pair faces the obstacles of their time as Black Americans, including structural racism and emerging pandemics. Compensation remains a groundbreaking story of inclusion and visibility that bears witness to the social forces and prejudices that stand in the way of love. This is the first of two events presented by UNDERCURRENTS in March. Stay tuned for more details on the next one! by @undercurrents_hi
0
7 months ago
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Thursday 6:30pm $10 donation All Ages @undercurrents_hi Film Screening Night Sat 6PM $10 18+ no alcohol @heartattackhawaii album release @3dhxc @weightofsin @13thlegionhi Sun 12-4pm Harbors Community G Sale 15+ vendors @greentimes.matcha @saapsaap_hi Bebe Gravy @lillipop.dj taken in Harbors Vintage by @undercurrents_hi
2
8 months ago
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Kick off UNDERCURRENTS with this program of films linked by themes of light, disintegration, and the archival impulse. Organized in collaboration with visiting Chicago-based curators Elise Schierbeek @carbon.lake and David Whitehouse @newer_style_movies of @employeesonly_cineclub. LIGHT IS… Jan 15 / 6:30 PM / doors at 6 @3rdspacehonolulu. $10 suggested donation films by Bill Morrison (Light is Calling, 2004), Sky Hopinka (Flesh & Ghost, 2025), Deborah Stratman (Second Sighted, 2014), Cauleen Smith (Songs for Earth and Folk, 2013), Rebecca Baron & Douglas Goodwin (Lossless #3), Adam Piron (Black Glass, 2024), and Michael Robinson (Light is Waiting, 2007). Total runtime: 70 min. by @undercurrents_hi
7
9 months ago
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“The Trump immigration crackdown has created a climate of fear. ICE aggression against Hawai‘i families, friends, neighbors & co-workers has escalated dramatically. Arrests of immigrants in Hawai‘i have increased nearly 300% in the last year. ICE’s arbitrary and capricious enforcement – as with the detention and threat of deportation of O‘ahu resident Rogerio Carlos Barbosa Araujo – is a painful reminder of the daily violence and fear migrant communities endure across the country. ICE’s own admission to violating constitutionally protected rights in court proceedings raises serious doubts and questions when it comes to raids like the most recent one we witnessed on Kaua‘i on November 5, 2025. We reject President Trump’s and the Department of Human Services’ claim that they are only deporting “the worst of the worst” criminals. According to AP news, “ICE statistics show that as of June 29, 2025, there were 57,861 people detained by ICE, 41,495 — 71.7% — of whom had no criminal convictions. Moreover, contrary to Homeland Security Secretary Noem’s claims, both US veterans and citizens have been arrested and detained by ICE. The O‘ahu Rapid Response Coalition (ORRC) rose from the community to affirm our shared humanity in the face of the oppressive and cruel system that tries to divide us. We are committed to organizing, defending, and caring for one another because no human is illegal on this shared planet. What Does ORRC Do? • Educate the public about our rights • Operate a hotline to intake and verify ICE sightings • Dispatch Rapid Response volunteers to observe and document ICE activities • Distribute community alerts • Refer victims to support Event organizers: State Representative Della Au Belatti, O‘ahu Rapid Response Coalition, Hawai‘i J20+, and Hawai‘i Workers Center Event Cosponsors: ACLU-Hawai‘i Hawai‘i Coalition for Civil Rights Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights Hawai‘i Filipinos for Truth, Justice, & Democracy Indivisible Hawai‘i Statewide Network Sex Workers Outreach Project” by @undercurrents_hi
0
9 months ago
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