Outpacing passive notions of “exploration,” Kanaka Maoli writer and director Kanani Koster confronts her subjects head-on. Committed to unveiling the raw realities of so-called “ordinary” life, she crafts stories that are as authentic as they are hilarious. She is a ‘24 American Film Institute Directing alum and Punky Aloha Scholar for Kanaka 'Ōiwi and Pasifika Creatives. She has spoken on numerous panels on race, diversity and representation in film as well as serving as a judge for the 2022 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. Kanani is the 2020 Oregon Made Film Grant winner for the docu-short, Any Oregon Sunday, and a 2020 Portland Arts Museum Re:Imagined Artist recipient. Her short film No Spectators Allowed, has won and been nominated for awards such as the Best of the PNW Short Film at the 2022 Bend Film Festival and included in the The Smithsonian National Museum of American Indian’s Fall 2023 showcase. Her AFI thesis film, FCBK, was funded by Sloan and Visionary Justice Story Lab. In 2024, Kanani’s current feature in development SHOOTS was a finalist for Tribeca AT&T’s Untold Story grant.