Experiencing Interruptions?

The Future is in the Past

This short film was conceived, written, produced, and completed in the span of 48 hours as part of the annual 48 Hour Film Challenge sponsored by Hawaiʻi Filmmaker's Collective (HFC). All media was shot on board Hōkūleʻa, a performance replica of a traditional Polynesian voyaging canoe, during a 2,500 nautical mile journey from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti in 2022.

The story recounts the first voyager to sail from Tahiti to Hawaiʻi thousands of years ago and transitions to that same voyager's descendants thousands of years in the future.

  • Maui Tauotaha
    Director
  • Vance Kaleohano Farrant
    Writer
  • Maui Tauotaha
    Writer
  • Hōkūleʻa Crew
    Producer
  • Archie Kalepa
    Key Cast
    "Dad"
  • Kamuela Wallace
    Key Cast
    "Son"
  • Lehua Kamalu
    Key Cast
    "Pele"
  • Nālamakū Ah Sing
    Key Cast
    "Kamohoaliʻi"
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    i ka wā mamua, ka wā mahope
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    3 minutes 59 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    4k Panasonic S1H
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • none
Distribution Information
  • none
Director Biography - Maui Tauotaha

Born and raised on the island of Oʻahu, Maui got his start in media at Punahou school as a 14 year old scholarship worker in the Instructional Television Department. He went on to study Television Production at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles but was called home before graduating due to a family emergency. While at home he secured employment as a news photographer/editor at KGMB, the local CBS affiliate in Honolulu. This proved to be a miracle of a reassignment as his union job at the news station offered the health insurance coverage necessary for life saving surgery of a brain aneurysm. Following a few years at KGMB Maui moved back to Los Angeles to finish school but instead climbed up the ladder from intern, to PA, to Assistant Editor, to Associate Producer, to full fledged editor working first in promo and eventually on docu-reality shows. After seven years in Los Angeles, another family emergency called Maui back home to Hawaiʻi where he became the Senior Editor at ʻŌiwi Television Network. After ten years at ʻŌiwi, Maui co-founded Kūlaniākea where he is currently Media Manager, working with preschool age children to explore culture based early childhood education opportunities in Hawaiʻi and across the world for other indigenous peoples.

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Director Statement

My name, Maui, is the name of my great-grandfather, a deep sea navigator and canoe builder from Tahiti. For generations our family built and guided these vessels across thousands of miles of the vast Pacific ocean to bring people to very specific places of innovation and discovery. In the wake of those ancestors long ago, today I build vessels of media to help my Oceanic family better understand who we are and where we come from. So much has been lost. We must tell what stories we have left to inspire and uplift our people.

I am currently the Senior Editor at ʻŌiwi Television Network, Media Manager for Kūlaniākea, and a freelance producer/director/photographer/editor. Much of my experience in media stems from seven years in Los Angeles as a television editor working on shows for NBC, CBS, FOX, MTV, BET, E!, Discovery, History Channel, Travel Channel and others. I learned a lot working alongside and under experienced producers and editors who had been in the business longer than I had been alive.

Over the past decade I have helped produce and edit over a hundred hours of content focused on Hawaiian language and culture which has been featured on local broadcast television, online, in film festivals, in-flight, and PBS National. I look forward to the continued sharing and learning for myself and my family as we continue the literal and figurative voyages in life guided by the courage and wisdom of our ancestors.