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Molokaʻi Bound - Short Film

A wayward young man, recently released from prison, struggles to reconnect with his son and Hawaiian heritage.

  • Alika Maikau
    Director
    Mauka to Makai
  • Alika Maikau
    Writer
    Keep You Float
  • Chapin Hall
    Producer
    Out of State
  • Alika Maikau
    Producer
    Mauka to Makai, Keep You Float
  • Jason Cutinella
    Producer
    Waikiki, Kalewa
  • Anuhea Pfaltzgraff
    Producer
  • Holden Mandrial-Santos
    Key Cast
    "Kainoa"
    Mauka to Makai
  • Austin Tucker
    Key Cast
    "Jonathan"
    N/A
  • Danielle Zalopany
    Key Cast
    "Jessica"
    Waikiki, Kalewa, Last Taxi Dance, Hae Hawaiʻi
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    Drama, Comedy, Indigenous, Hawaiian, Native
  • Runtime:
    8 minutes 44 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 13, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    2,500 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    2.39 Scope
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • ImagineNATIVE
    TORONTO
    Canada
    October 24, 2019
    World Premiere
    WINNER - “Cynthia Lickers-Sage Award for Best Short Work” qualifying it for consideration in the 2021 Academy Awards
  • Hawai'i International Film Festival
    Honolulu
    United States
    November 8, 2019
    USA Premiere
    WINNER - “Best Made-in Hawaiʻi Film” (HIFF’s Top Prize!)
  • LA SKINS FEST
    Los Angeles
    United States
    November 23, 2019
    West Coast Premiere
    WINNER - “Best Short Narrative”
Director Biography - Alika Maikau

Alika Maikau is a multi-hyphenate filmmaker based out of Honolulu, Hawai’i. In 2017 he was nominated for Best Made In Hawai’i Short at the Hawai’i International Film Festival for Keep You Float, which led to an invitation to the ‘Ohina Filmmakers Lab, where his next script earned him a mentorship under Joe Robert Cole (Black Panther). Cole oversaw the development of what would become his next short, Mauka To Makai, which premiered at the end of 2018 and was awarded Best Made In Hawai’i Short at the Hawai’i International Film Festival. Filmmaker Magazine published an article in 2019 entitled Made Visible, where they went on to say about the short film: “Bringing to the screen a world little seen even in Hawaiian films, it wove a universal tale of economic struggle and longtime friendship into a proudly local, indigenous setting.” In November 2019, “Molokai Bound” captured the award for best live-action short film at the imagiNATIVE film festival in Toronto qualifying it for consideration in the 2021 Academy Awards.

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Director Statement

My primary goal as a filmmaker is to portray the place that I grew up with the sincerity, dignity, and professionalism I witnessed by my compatriots, because Hawai’i is a special place to me, I am who I am because of it, and I need to serve it justice on the screen in a way I have yet to see done within a narrative framework. I want to depict Hawaiians on screen confronting the realities of our societal issues, because I need people to understand what life is like for people on the margins of a perceived paradise.