MĀHŪ: A Trans-Pacific Love Letter
MĀHŪ documents an innovative theater production by Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne which aims to reclaim and celebrate the traditional place of honor and respect given to māhū (transgender) people.
- Filmmaker(s)
- Lisette Marie Flanary
- Category
- Short Film
- Subject Matter
- Culture, Community Portrait, Arts & Music
- Featured In
- Region
- Hawai'i
- Year
- 2026
- Website
- www.lehuafilms.com
In the short documentary MĀHŪ, Kumu Hula Patrick Makuakāne explores the history of the Hawaiian term māhū, or transgender, through the creation of a new theater production for audiences in San Francisco and Honolulu. The film interweaves the multi-media stage performance featuring hula, oli, and moʻolelo with intimate interviews with the artistic collaborators of the show who are all acclaimed Hawaiian transgender artists. The film shares stories from Kuini, a gifted musical trio (Hoʻomanawanui Apo, Kēhaulani Tamure and Keli Māhealani Viernes) specializing in leo kiʻekiʻe or Hawaiian falsetto; Kaumakaiwa Kanakaʻole, a scholar, activist, practitioner and performer borne from a long line of renowned cultural educators; and Kumu Hinalei Wong-Kalu, a hula master, cultural practitioner and leader in the field of Kanaka Maoli (Indigenous Hawaiian) language and cultural preservation. MĀHŪ is a powerful act of reclamation, taking a misunderstood and misinterpreted ideology and celebrating its original meaning of pride and positivity.
MĀHŪ is a recipient of Production funding from PIC's Shorts Fund.
Lisette Marie Flanary - Director/Producer
Independent filmmaker, educator, and hula dancer, Lisette Marie Flanary creates films that celebrate a modern renaissance of the hula dance and Hawaiian culture. She is the writer, producer and director of Lehua Films and her award-winning documentaries, AMERICAN ALOHA: Hula Beyond Hawaiʻi (P.O.V. series 2003-2004), Nā Kamalei: The Men of Hula (Independent Lens series 2006-2007), and ONE VOICE (NPT 2010-2011) have broadcast nationally on public television and shown in film festivals around the world. Her last film, TOKYO HULA, the final film in a trilogy of hula documentaries exploring the explosive popularity of hula in Japan, was awarded the Best Moana Whārahi Films from the Pacific Award at the Doc Edge Film Festival in New Zealand and is also the winner of Best Feature Film at the 2021 Made in Hawaiʻi Film Festival. All three documentaries in the Hula Trilogy were broadcast on the Pacific Heartbeat Season 10 from Pacific Islanders in Communications in 2021. Lisette is currently a Professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She also continues to serve the local filmmaking community in Hawaiʻi through her work with Good Pitch Local Hawaiʻi, Ohina Film Labs, and Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking.
Patrick Makuakāne - Executive Producer/Key Participant
Patrick Makuakāne is a 2023 MacArthur Fellow, kumu hula, choreographer, dancer and raconteur. Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai’i, he studied with two of Hawaiʻi’s most revered hula masters, Robert Uluwehi Cazimero and Mae Kamāmalu Klein. He is the founder and director of the Hawaiian dance company and cultural organization, Nā Lei Hulu i ka Wēkiu of San Francisco, and is known for his creativity and ground-breaking theatrical performances. While a passionate preservor of tradition, his artistry also crafts a provactive treatment of tradition that leaps forward in meaningful and surprising ways. He appreciates how dichotomy can be a powerful tool to create work, especially as it relates to upending misconceived notions regarding hula. This has resulted in productions exploring colonization and the current US occupation of Hawaiʻi, native Hawaiian transgender artists, hula as community builder in San Quentin State Prison. In 2022, Kumu Patrick was given a special Lifetime Achievement Kulia i ka Nu’u Award from the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce of Northern California. Makuakāne is a passionate advocate for equal representation and he currently serves as the spiritual and cultural advisor for the Native Hawaiian Religioius Spiritual Group at San Quentin State Prison.
Director's website: www.lehuafilms.com
