Film festival screenings
Berlin International Film Festival Margaret Mead Film Festival • New York WYNC Human Rights Film Festival • New York 15th Festival du Film d’Amiens • France Vermont International Film Festival Kennedy Center • Washington D.C. Vancouver International Film Festival Festival International du Nouveau Cinema e de la Video de Montreal Wellington Film Festival The Asia Society • New York City San Francisco Asian American International Film Festival Asian American Film Festival • Washington, D.C. Pacific Rim Film Festival • Santa Cruz, California Black International Cinema • Chicago, New York, Berlin Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival World Community Film Festival • Vancouver 1994 Asia Pacific Film Tour Best of the Hawai’i International Film Festival tour Native American Film & Video Festival, National Museum of the American Indian • NYC First Nations Film & Video Festival of Chicago Festival of the Dreaming • Sydney IMAGeNATION Aboriginal Film & Video Festival • Vancouver Native Americas International Film Exposition • Santa Fe First Nations Film & Video Festival of Chicago Native Spirit Festival • London World Islands Film Festival • Jeju, Korea GAFFERS Film Festival (Global Art Film Festival) • Sacramento
Reviews, selected quotes
“Act of War” makes the case for Hawaiian sovereignty in scholarly and artful fashion…this film does a good job of avoiding empty rhetoric. It is a potent educational tool.
Honolulu Advertiser, Sept. 17, 1993
…compelling documentary…relevant facts are presented in painstaking detail…artfully produced…speaks to native Hawaiians, students and history buffs.
Booklist, Sept. 1, 1994
…outstanding documentary…still photos are used and interwoven with the story to add to the history and enjoyment…music and computer animation are subtly used. I compliment the Hawaiian consultants/writers. Their dedication and hard work will allow many teachers, students, and others the opportunity to know the history of the islands.
(Five star rating) Video Rating Guide – Vol. 5, No. 3
Startles in its depth and sweep of history…comprehensive and emotionally potent…a primer on the contemporary revisionist view of Hawaiian history. Hawaiian history and its gradual subjugation by foreigners is painstakingly re-enacted. Act of War speaks with the moral authority of Native Hawaiians.
Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film and Video Festival
This film is fascinating from two aspects, the parallels and genealogical proximity to our own Maori history and from the perspective that the US’ subtle annexation of Hawai’i was really the just the beginning of what has turned into a history of stealing in the name of big business.
City Voice, Wellington
The question of American authority over native peoples is at the heart of this film…the film makes excellent use of still photos, film footage, artwork, and reenactments, and the moment-by-moment accounts and quotes read from diaries, letters, and press reports add to the realism of this historical event. The film’s engrossing story paints a very disturbing warning for its viewers.
Library Journal – Nov. 15, 1994
Hawai’i’s history is presented from the Native Hawaiian point of view…like their familiar volcanic eruptions, activists threaten to disrupt the beautiful islands as they clamor for their justifiable rights…they have a good point to make.
School Library Journal – May, 1994