kekahi wahi

kekahi wahi (kw) is a grassroots film initiative led by filmmaker Sancia Miala Shiba Nash and artist Drew K. Broderick. Formed on January 17th, 2020, kw is committed to documenting transformations across ka pae‘āina o Hawaiʻi, the Hawaiian archipelago, and sharing stories of Moananui, the greater Pacific, with communities at home and abroad. Recent projects include Hoʻoulu Hou (2023), a documentary short film honoring the life and legacy of Kanaka poet, artist, and activist, ʻĪmaikalani Kalāhele and i nā kiʻi ma mua, nā kiʻi ma hope (2022–), an ongoing screening series by an intergenerational group of contributors featuring moving-image works that are of, about, and/or related to Hawaiʻi and Moananui. 

Sancia Miala Shiba Nash (b. 1997) is a filmmaker from Honuaʻula, Maui. Through time-based media, Sancia Miala works collaboratively to amplify intersectional stories of place. Her practice is guided by oral histories, archives, and acts of translation. Currently, Sancia Miala helps to support the digitization and cataloging efforts of Nā Maka o ka ʻĀina, an independent video production team, founded by Joan Lander and Puhipau, that has documented the land and people of Hawaiʻi since 1981.

Drew K. Broderick (b. 1988) is an artist, curator, and educator from Mōkapu, Kailua, Koʻolaupoko. Raised in a matriarchy on the windward side of Oʻahu, his work is guided by the longstanding and ongoing efforts of Kānaka ʻŌiwi women—especially his mother, aunties, and maternal grandmother—who have devoted their lives to art, culture, organizing, and community in Hawaiʻi. Currently Drew serves as director of Koa Gallery and an Instructor in the Arts & Humanities Department at Kapiʻolani Community College within the University of Hawaiʻi System.

COUSIN is commissioning their short film Ahulau Ka Piʻipiʻi O Kakaniluʻa [working title], which amplifies a series of events that take place in the ahupuaʻa, land division, of Wailuku, on the island of Maui, in U.S. occupied Hawaiʻi. When two couples connect at The Dunes at Maui Lani Golf Course, time collapses into a collective fever dream and the group spends the day in a daze—amidst an ancient battle between warring Maui and Hawaiʻi island chiefs—reckoning with what lies beneath the well-manicured terrain. As the land around them shifts, stories of place gush forth. 

This experimental short film project emerged out of conversations with family and friends around uncanny occurrences across Hawaiʻi’s golf courses, particularly those whose construction desecrated iwi kūpuna, ancestral remains. These contested courses continue to be a source of much kaumaha, heaviness, today.