EHCC Lecture Series Online Presents: A Live Presentation by Keoni Alvarez with Palikapu Dedman

Program type: 
Lecture
Dates: 
Friday, December 16, 2022 - 7:00pm

EHCC Lecture Series Online Presents: A Live Presentation by Keoni Alvarez with Palikapu Dedman

Friday December 16th at 7PM in the Kahua ʻElua Theatre. Masks requested. Presentation will be recorded- free and open to the public.

Indigenous Hawaiian Keoni Alvarez is a filmmaker and storyteller.
When he was a young boy, his brothers discovered 'iwi (sacred bones of ancestors) in a hidden cave in the Puna forest. He documented his 20-year quest to represent the 'iwi and protect this ancient burial ground in his new award-winning film KAPU - Sacred Hawaiian Burials (Sunday November 20th at 4:30pm - Palace Theater - Hawai'i International Film Festival).
 
At the EHCC Kahua ʻElua theatre on Friday December 16 at 7pm Keoni and guest Palikapu Dedman from the film will present about Sacred Hawaiian Burials to a live audience.
 
As Keoni Alvarez says about his 20-year project: “My mission is to honor and respect my ancestors’ burials and burial grounds. Our Hawaiian race survived because of our kūpuna iwi legacy. We have to always remember our iwi kūpuna are our ancestors, they are the root of the Hawaiian existence…without our ancestors we have nothing.”

Palikapu Dedman is a Hawaiian man who organized the protest against the largest mass burial desecration in Hawaii’s history. He is recognized and respected in the Hawaiian community for his knowledge and activism to protect Hawaii’s culture, land and natural resources.

This burial ground is the most important historical site at Kapalua, Maui. The site was unearthed when digging began for the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Kapalua. When the importance of the discovery was realized, the hotel was moved inland. The area, which contains over 900 ancient Hawaiian burial sites dating between 610 and 1800, has been recognized as a sacred site and has started a movement of thousands of Hawaiians protesting to protect these burials. Palikapu majorly influenced the enforcement of Hawaiian burial laws.

Keoni Alvarez, HIFF Director with his mom (Aileen Alvarez) and Hawaii International Film Festival Executive Director, Beckie Stocchetti.

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