EA (Sovereign)

46th Annual Hawai’i International Film Festival weekend at the Hilo Palace Synopsis: EA (Sovereign), directed by Noah Keone Viernes and Sancia Miala Shiba Nash, follows Kanaka ʻŌiwi leader and cultural steward Keʻeaumoku Kapu and his family as they fight to reclaim their ancestral lands in Kauaʻula Valley, Maui. Through personal memories, family histories, and generations of resistance, the film traces the enduring impacts of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, plantation agriculture, militarization, and unchecked development on Native Hawaiian land and water rights. Blending archival materials, chants, songs, animation, maps, legal records, and contemporary community life, EA embodies the Hawaiian principle “I ka wā ma mua, ka wā ma hope”—the future is found in the past. Centered on Kapu’s nearly two-decade struggle through the courts and within his community, the film is a powerful testament to Indigenous resilience, cultural sovereignty, and the ongoing movement to restore stewardship of Hawaiʻi’s lands and waters for future generations.

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