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Hawai’i International Film Festival 2024: Alika Tengan on Molokai’i Bound
Molokai’i Bound I first learned of Alika Tengan (then Alika Maikau) when his short Mauka to Makai (co-directed with Jonah Okano) screened at the 2018 Hawai’i International Film Festival, where I was a member of the Made in Hawai’i jury. The film’s naturalism, commitment to its characters and refusal of easy melodrama demonstrated a maturity far beyond the young filmmaker’s age; our jury gave it the Best Film award. It turned out to be just the first of several Made in Hawai’i Best Film awards for Tengan; he also won for his 2019 short Molokai’i Bound, and this year won it again for the feature-length version of that short as well as the festival’s Kau Ka Hōkū (or Rising Star) Award.
A slow-burning character study of a Native Hawaiian just released from prison, struggling to reconnect with both his young pre-teen son and his own indigenous identity, the film stands out for staying true to its unflashy, working-class milieu, and for its refusal of typical narrative flourishes or quirks. Its characters don’t inhabit a world where phrases like “navigating indigenous identity,” “toxic masculinity” or “the traumas of colonialization” are said aloud, even if those things are subtly (and not so subtly) affecting those characters. Instead, our hero simply tries to muddle through like everyone else—often failing, sometimes succeeding, but always trying to do better, beautifully captured by cinematographer Chapin Hall.
A key visual motif are the constant glimpses of the Ko’olau mountain range surrounding the town of Kane’ohe, where the film is set. Looming over the characters, the starkly gorgeous mountains function as a reminder of the power of their surroundings and ancestral land, but also as a prison hemming in those too stubborn to move forward. For our hero, too exhausted to scale the peaks, the only escape is towards the sea and the island of Molokai’i, a symbol of an idyllic childhood (and of an unspoiled Native Hawaiian ideal) with some of the highest sea cliffs in the world.
A key visual motif in Molokai’i Bound are the constant glimpses of the Ko’olau mountain range surrounding the town of Kane’ohe, where the film is set. Looming over the characters, the starkly gorgeous mountains seem to function as both a reminder of the power of their surroundings and their ancestral land, yet also as a kind of prison, hemming in those too stubborn to move forward. For our hero, too exhausted to scale the peaks, the only escape is towards the sea, and towards the island of Molokai’i, a symbol of an idyllic childhood (and of an unspoiled Native Hawaiian ideal), yet a place, ironically, with some of the highest sea cliffs in the world. He may sail away easily, but those mountains—and all their ancestral power—remain to be scaled.
After the festival, Tengan was generous enough to chat about the filmmaking process and its influences, the talents and generosity of his collaborators and the growth of the filmmaking community in Hawai’i.
Filmmaker: What was the inspiration behind developing Molokai’i Bound into a feature film, and what themes or moods were you hoping to capture in the longer form?
Tengan: When we first conceived of the short, we hoped it could be something that had the potential to be extended down the road, but because I didn’t have time to map out what that entire story could look like before we shot, we didn’t really know for sure if it would have the sort of viability, especially since this was to be me and Chapin’s first collaboration together. But things really came together fluidly as we shot it, and after Chapin and I edited it, we were very energized and galvanized by what we saw. Holden imbued a lot of humanity into his portrayal of the character, which gave me a better sense of the protagonist’s wants and desires, and with the way that Chapin shot it, I could really visualize the longer movie in my mind’s eye. The writing process felt a lot more naturalized because of that.
I think there’s a certain kind of masculinity that was idealized growing up at the time we did on the east side of O’ahu. Phrases like “toxic masculinity“ didn’t exist in the vernacular at the time, but that’s the environ that molded a lot of the characters in the movie to varying degrees. So, one of the goals was to deconstruct that to an extent, and examine where it can lead them despite their best intentions.
Filmmaker: What kinds of films (or other art/story-telling forms) did you look at, either narratively in terms of story-telling or visually, for inspiration for the film?
Tengan: The Place Beyond the Pines was a film me and Chapin discussed a lot in terms of aesthetic, and balancing tones and narratives. That film dealt with father-and-son relationships in a different temporal way, in that the fathers and sons didn’t know each other; one of the questions that film asks is, “Are we predestined to live in the legacies of our fathers, even if we didn’t know them?” For Moloka’i Bound, because he’s trying to reconnect with the son in the present, it’s “what can I do as a father now to make sure my son doesn’t follow in my footsteps?” Another film I unexpectedly thought a lot about during the writing process was Paper Moon, as I thought the dynamic between the young girl and the man who could be her father was really wonderful, and there was a sort of parallel in what I wanted to explore in the generational and emotional spaces between Kainoa and Jonathan.
Filmmaker: Native Hawaiian activism and identity have always been a part of Hawaiian culture of course, but between the making of your short and the start of the feature, it seems that the Mauna Kea movement really awakened people even more. You’ve spoken a bit about your own visit there as being a foundational time; how did it influence the growth and direction of the script/film?
Tengan: It was a foundational time for many of us on a lot of levels, and the amount of poignant films that have come out of that moment is a testament to that. This Is The Way We Rise by Ciara Lacy (which Chapin shot as well) and Standing Above The Clouds by Jalena Keane-Lee both do an incredible job of examining that emotionally-charged epoch head on. Moloka’i Bound ended up inheriting a lot of that energy in a more indirect way, as I met two women up there who we wound up casting in the film: Kalena Charlene, who plays Jessica (Kainoa’s love interest), and Kamalani Kapeliela, who plays Kainoa’s sister.
On the mountain, to go along with the powerful speeches of protest by some of Hawai’i’s foremost thought leaders and activists, there were emotional performances of hula, mele and pule all day, every day. On one particular day, I was drawn to someone singing a stunning rendition of “Kaulana Na Pua.” I’d never met this wahine (woman) before, but when she finished, she packed up her stuff and walked away without fanfare. In my head I was like, “I have to say something to this person, to at least let her know how much that affected me.” As she walked by I expressed that emotion to her, which I think caught her off-guard, but she seemed to appreciate it. When it came time to cast the film, I still saw her songs and presence on Instagram, and felt like she possessed a kindred spirt to the sister character, so I asked her to audition. She ended up being perfect for the part. After she was cast, I ended up adding the very song I heard her sing on the mountain, “Kaulana Na Pua,” into the movie as a formative moment in her reconnection with her brother. It’s one of my favorite scenes. I also asked her to do a rendition of “Moloka’i Nui Ahina” which Kainoa talks about which relates to a fond memory of being a kid on Moloka’i, so she did a beautiful cover of it. We put it in the credits, and it puts a perfect bow on the film.
Filmmaker: Every filmmaker has a responsibility to make something that they and their colleagues are proud of, of course, but for filmmakers who are addressing or part of communities that are rarely recognized onscreen that responsibility becomes even larger, and both more rewarding and more fraught in terms of proper representation, identity, etc. Which is nearly impossible, of course; you’ve probably got to worry about disappointing not just your mom or auntie, but everyone’s auntie. How did you go about showing the community, and both its struggles and its power, on film, while keeping in mind the legacy of other good or bad portrayals of Native Hawaiians onscreen?
Tengan: I think for anyone that’s grown up here, especially in the ’90s, we were unfortunately accustomed to seeing a certain type of portrayal of local and Hawaiian identity by writers and directors who aren’t from here, or only could view us as peripheral characters in their narratives. As local filmmakers we all know what that looks like, so that’s there subconsciously for me, but when writing my own work I have to forget about all of that, and just focus on the heart of the people whose stories that we are telling. We don’t have to try to concoct stereotypes or caricatures of these people, because I’m trying to approximate the heart and emotionality of the people that I grew up with and around. So the “Aunty Test” you mentioned can actually serve as a great barometer, as if they see it and feel like we did a good job, it generally bodes well for how others will respond to it (laughs).
Filmmaker: I’ve always appreciated how even your short films lean more towards a very grounded realism in their portrayal of contemporary life, and your feature boasts a similarly naturalistic, even-keeled tone. Were there temptations or suggestions to take the script in other ways, with other endings, and how did you maintain this more naturalistic approach?
Tengan: Thankfully, our producers Jesy Odio and Nina Yang Bongiovi had an appreciation for that more grounded world we were showcasing in the short, so no one on the team wanted to augment that too drastically. Tonally, I couldn’t envision a more melodramatic third act in a film like this. Because the stakes are so high for Kainoa towards the end, we felt like we just wanted to depict that as realistically as possible and it would resonate more deeply with audiences. There was a version of the script where the end of the film was much different, but Nina noted that it felt like that was maybe a bit too melodramatic, and I think she was totally right. So I’m grateful to her for that note, as I love the way that it ends now.
Filmmaker: You shot a more informal feature, Everyday in Kaimukī, as a stop-gap during the pandemic, but this is your main feature debut. What were some of the biggest challenges going from smaller short-film productions to larger feature narrative shoots?
Tengan: Kaimukī was a very small crew between Chapin, my sister and Jesy Odio, and though we had wonderful support once we got to post-production from Jason Cutinella, NMG and Pacific Islanders in Communications, on a macro level the whole project was about as bare bones as you could do it. So, to go from that to a midsize crew carrying at least 20 people with us per day on Moloka’i Bound was definitely an adjustment, so the main thing was just learning how to delegate to other departments. I’m so used to telling the actors what to wear, it was refreshing to let our wardrobe designer Jade Alexis handle that. Also, having someone like Nina Yang Bongiovi on set was incredible for not just me, but the whole crew, as she was very generous with her experience and advice. She brought a level of professionalism to set that helped us understand how it’s done at the highest level, and I’m very grateful to her for that.
Filmmaker: With newer outside funders and producers onboard, you could have recast the film with a “name actor” or worked with other crew members, but you remained with your earlier lead, Holden Mandrial-Santos, and also your main cinematographer, Chapin Hall. I know that Holden was/is actually a longtime friend; what did you see in him as a main lead, and how did your relationship possibly evolve as you switched from “friend” to “director”?
Tengan: Me and Holden went to the same high score in Kaneohe, Castle High, but we didn’t know each other that well at the time. But a couple years later, I was looking for a roommate and heard through our mutual friend that he was looking to move out as well, so we ended up getting a place together along with our other good friend Tyler Kanemori right before I started working on my short film Mauka to Makai with Jonah Okano. Being around Holden every day, I was able to get a sense for his personality and taste, and we were interested in a lot of the same things and characters from the east side of O’ahu, which is a very blue-collar region. So, I could see that he was really great at sort of channeling a lot real people we knew into his performance in Mauka To Makai. I wanted to tap back into that in Moloka’i Bound, and though Kainoa is more mature than the earlier character in some ways, he still has a certain arrested development that makes the character complex yet empathic, so I couldn’t envision anyone else playing the part.
In terms of the dynamic you mentioned, Holden was very professional about it. He understood his assignment as the lead actor and that the burden on his character was heavy, so on set it was very workmanlike. His character is dealing with a lot internally, so it didn’t make sense for me to joke around with him like I normally would. Also, because we were still living together at the time we shot it, we played a lot of NBA 2K, which I honestly think was part of our director/actor bonding, as we always played on the same team. If we were playing against each other it might’ve ruined the movie (laughs).
Filmmaker: DP Chapin Hall has become one of the stand-out names for cinematography on the islands. What was your working relationship like, and how did you channel his unique eye to your directorial vision?
Tengan: This was our third film together, so we’ve developed a good working rapport, and since he also grew up on the east side he understood the archetypes we were trying to portray. Because of that, he gave great notes on the script as it developed as well, and had great suggestions for where we could film things to evoke certain elements of the script. Because Kaneohe is so green, that was a color and motif that we really wanted to accentuate where we could; though Moloka’i is very green as well, there’s also a distinctive red there from the dirt roads that we tried to plant throughout the film as well. And, of course, since we had shot the short together, the blueprint was kind of laid out for the visual, docu-style approach. Though for this film, we wanted to look for opportunities to incorporate more static shots as well, to give off a better sense of the verdant vistas Kainoa inhabits.
Filmmaker: Beyond Holden and Chapin, many other well-known and established filmmakers in Hawai’i helped the production, from directors and producers like ‘Aina Paikai and Justyn Ah Chong (who both even appeared onscreen) to Molokai’-based creators Matt Yamashita and Mikiala Pescaia. How did their involvement help with your filming?
Tengan: I feel very fortunate they were down to be a part of it, as I’m a fan of them as artists and people, having known both for a long time. ‘Āina was actually in the very first film class I ever had, where we had the privilege of being taught by Indigenous icon Merata Mita. Actually, ‘Āina surprised me, because he submitted his audition as Keala without even telling me that he was going to audition for it (laughs). Even though it wasn’t what I had initially envisioned for the character, his audition added a layer of gravity and empathy I didn’t initially anticipate when I wrote the character, so I’m grateful to him for the sneak audition. And Justyn Ah-Chong has been a great friend for a long time, so we were privileged that he was willing to be our assistant director and co-producer. He’s such a Swiss Army knife: truly there’s nothing he can’t do on set, and his advice was invaluable to me when we were in the thick of things. And of course, knowing that [farming] Kalo and poi is such a huge part of his actual life, it was only right that he play that character in front of the camera as well. I’m just so glad that he was down!
Filmmaker: In a larger sense, what was it like having so much buy-in from the larger filmmaking community on your film?
Tengan: It’s huge. It’s such a tight-knit community, so we had to have buy-in not only from the Kaneohe community, who helped us with cast and filming locations, but also the Moloka’i community as well. Part of why I wanted to set some of the film there was that my mother used to tell me stories about spending summers at her Tutu’s homestead house in Ho’olehua with her cousins, so its location was integral to the story we were trying to tell. We were fortunate enough to able to work with Mikiala Pescaia and Matt Yamashita, who are both awesome filmmakers in their own right, and they helped ensure that the script met their standard of an authentic Moloka’i portrayal.
Mikiala and Matt also helped us cast two key roles with actors from Moloka’i , in Kainoa’s mother, played wonderfully by Mokihana Paleka-Johnson, and the first person that Kainoa encounters at the fish pond, played by Kalaniua Ritte, who actually works at the Keawanui fishpond we portray in the film. I’m so grateful to them for being down despite not having any acting experience at all. Also, Kalaniua reminds me of, like, a Hawaiian Mark Ruffallo, so I think more people should cast him!
The most important thing to them and us was that audiences didn’t watch this film and go “Wow honey, we should visit or move there!” The people there are very protective of their island and rightfully so, as it’s the least urbanized of the major islands. That’s not by accident. Because of the unyielding threat of outside land development, they’ve had to be protective of what they have, which is why we wanted to feature the signage you see on the island that speaks to that vigilance and dedication to preservation.
Filmmaker: Finally, even in the five to six years since your shorts first gained notice, the filmmaking scene in Hawai’i, and indigenous Hawaiian cinema in particular, has blossomed. How do you think it has changed since you began? Are there more opportunities now for filmmakers to stay in Hawai’i and make their own work?
Tengan: It’s been incredible to be a part of the growth the film scene has experienced here. I feel very fortunate to have come into it when I did, and of course, we stand on the shoulders of indigenous pioneers like Merata Mita and Kanaka filmmakers like Ty Sanga, who was the first Native Hawaiian to have a short at Sundance. What’s exciting now is that local and Kanaka filmmakers feel more emboldened than ever to tell their stories, and because there’s such a diversity of perspective on local culture starting to be disseminated, no one story or filmmaker has to burden the weight of telling Hawai’i’s entire story in one film, which is a good thing because that story is too massive and multifarious to be told by any one individual. I’m just grateful to be a part of the collective movement that’s happening here, and what excites me most is that I believe the talent and caliber of work coming out of Hawai’i is only going to become more diffuse and poignant from here on out.
