From Feb. 7-10, the annual South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers started its spring selection of films; the first of the three documentaries was “Cane Fire,” directed by Anthony Banua-Simon.
“Cane Fire” was selected from the hundreds of films that were submitted for review for the Southern Circuit Tour. According to Teresa Hollingsworth, program director for film and traditional arts at South Arts, this one specifically was chosen by members within the community.
“What makes the Southern Circuit Tour a little bit different than a film festival is that we have a programming staff that looks at the content of film and the films that are available,” said Hollingsworth. “What makes us really different is that our screening partners are involved in the decision making of selecting films, so for this season and folks from ETSU faculty and staff weighed in on what films they thought would be of most interest to the ETSU community and the Johnson City area.”
The film started with Banua-Simon’s familial connection to Kauai, Hawaii, and followed over a century of the sensationalized and misleading representation of Hawaii by Hollywood. The silver screen was used as a forum to exploit locals for profit, and he tries to capture the narrative of the native Hawaiians working to reclaim the culture and history that is rightfully theirs. The director himself explained that he knew the documentary would expand to be much more than about his own inner circle.
“I think I always had the broader view in mind, I just did not know how to get at it or if it would come up,” Banua-Simon said. “It just was just so much of a journey that I had to just go with wherever it took me . It was starting from that point and just branching out and talking to other people and seeing the shifting industries of tourism, and then talking to my cousins that are my age, so much of it started off as really listening to as many people as I could and almost getting this oral history from different perspectives.”
The Mary B. Martin School of the Arts and the Martin Center at ETSU offered free access to the 90 minute documentary, as well as an almost 25 minute pre-recorded Q&A with the filmmaker. The Q&A was led by Taylour Chang, curator of film and performance at the Honolulu Museum of Art. During this portion, Banua-Simon thanked all the virtual participants for choosing to watch his film.
The next documentaries available for streaming will be “Warrior Women” March 7-11 and “Socks On Fire” available April 10-14. Participants are encouraged to watch to become more engaged in relevant social, political and economic topics, as well as see that documentaries that are not available for viewing anywhere else.
“We always look forward to the wide range of issues and perspectives that Southern Circuit films bring to light,” said Jennifer Clements, executive director of university events. “The spring films are rich in timely topics including activism, indigenous peoples, relationships, history, legacy and heritage – lots of good conversation starters.”
To download an e-ticket to view the movies, visit marybmartin.eventive.org/films or contact Kristi Smith at 423-439-8587.
