High-demand degree
The opening of the new building aligns with one of
UH West Oʻahu’s Creative Media program embraces digital media literacy and storytelling as experienced through video, animation, video games, design, social media, web and app development, virtual and augmented reality, and other new forms of media communication and design through concentrations in communication and new media technologies, design and media, game design and development and general creative media. Creative media was the fastest-growing degree program at
UH West Oʻahu in fall 2020, with 258 majors.
Sharla Hanaoka,
UH West Oʻahu’s Academy for Creative Media director, called the symbiosis between the new building and academic programming paramount to the delivery of course materials and subjects that will prepare students for the industry.
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The Hawai’i you see on screen these days is undergoing a makeover shaped by local filmmakers. That’s according to Georja Skinner, chief of Creative Industries under the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Skinner says distributors are waking up to Hawai i s portfolio of film and digital media credits.
The breadth of content that can be shared from Hawaii to major markets is just at the tip of the iceberg now.
Skinner says the sector has matured, with quality work coming out of the Academy for Creative Media, Ohina programs, the state Creative Lab, Pacific Islanders in Communications and other programs.
Christopher Makoto Yogi’s
I Was a Simple Man will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 29. The film is among 10 dramatic narrative feature films in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.
The film, set on Oʻahu’s North Shore, follows the life of Masao from pre-World War
II, to Hawaiʻi’s statehood, then the urbanization of Honolulu. When Masao gets older, he develops a terminal illness. As his condition deteriorates, he is visited by memories and ghosts of his past, including his wife (Grace) played by actress Constance Wu. The film illustrates the past and present of one family’s connection to their patriarch.
Molokaʻi Bound. (Photo courtesy: Alika Maikau)
An inaugural list of the nation’s best Indigenous film and television writers includes two University of Hawaiʻi alumni.
Alika Maikau and
Bryson Chun were named to The Indigenous List, selected by The Black List, in partnership with IllumiNative and the Sundance Institute. To be considered, Indigenous artists needed to submit film or
TV scripts, and describe how their native culture supported their ideas and process as a screenwriter. Maikau and Chun, who are friends and of Native Hawaiian heritage, were among nine writers chosen nationally.
“This initiative to highlight Indigenous voices was really exciting because there aren’t a lot of really positive portrayals of native people on