In the new short from Dean Hamer, Joe Wilson, and Daniel Sousa, the team behind the award-winning ‘Kapaemahu,’ an island warrior who descends into a strange underwater world after being wounded in battle falls in love with the shapeshifting octopus that saves his life.
It’s Raining Hawai‘i Films in Hollywood
Local Oscar-listed animated short “Kapaemahu” is just one of more than a dozen recent films to spring from our filmmaking community into the spotlight and it’s no Baywatch Hanauma Bay.
April 23, 2021
The flattened visual style and color palette are the work of animation director Daniel Sousa. Art by Daniel Sousa, courtesy of Kanaka Pakipika
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ollywood’s recent rediscovery of Hawai‘i as more than just a tropical backdrop for dinosaurs and squabbling reality show lolos actually feels rather breathtaking or maybe breathless. Because in one month in early 2021 we got
Director: Madeline Sharafian
The first of two Pixar films on the shortlist is a guided tour of all the things that live underground, courtesy of a rabbit who is looking for his own home. To the strains of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” the bewildered and intimidated bunny encounters bugs, badgers and a whole menagerie of burrowing rodents and since it’s Pixar, it’s impeccably made and thoroughly charming.
Will it feel substantial enough to voters? Perhaps not, but it’s hard to argue with Pixar’s track record in the category, or with the appeal of good old-fashioned craftsmanship to many voters. Plus, it has a message of tolerance, which may feel needed after the last few years.