PROGRAM 33 / PROGRAM 43

SUNDAY, MAY 2 | ONE VOICE | 4:00 PM | DGA 1

ONE VOICE DATE: SUNDAY, MAY 2 TIME: 4:00 PM VENUE: DGA 1 BUY TICKETS ENCORE PRESENTATION DATE: MONDAY, MAY 3 TIME: 4:30 PM VENUE: DWNTN BUY TICKETS

ONE VOICE
(United States, 2009) Dir.: Lisette Marie Fianary
Video, 84 min., color, documentary

Director Lisette Marie Flanary (AMERICAN ALOHA, Festival 2003; NA KAMALEI: THE MEN OF HULA, Festival 2007) portrays the exciting preparation and importance behind the annual Kamehameha Schools Song Contest in ONE VOICE. Filmed for the competition taken place in March of 2008, ONE VOICE gives its audience a look into the emotional preparation and emphasis that goes into this musical competition. Flanary follows the lives of song leaders and their families and captures the Kamehameha schools in practice months before the competition, revealing a real sense of just how significant the Song Contest is to the tradition of the Kamehameha Schools system. With the Song Contest’s theme as “Hawaiian Language Revitalization”, ONE VOICE combines the preparation of the much anticipated Song Contest with several Hawaiian identity issues at hand. Flanary brings out a refreshing Hawaiian personality to the documentary while covering the Song Contest. Interviews with students and parents and documentation of the student song leaders’ home lives give ONE VOICE further affirmation of its captivating qualities demonstrating a Hawai’i that the mainlanders and haoles may have never seen.

An especially intriguing component of ONE VOICE is the significantly recognizable emotion that students, families, and faculty of the Kamehameha Schools alike pour into the annual Song Contest. Amongst the Kamehameha Schools students, tears were shed at performances, pride and respect were reserved especially for song leaders, tension to achieve perfection during practices was felt, and the competition between grades and schools was clear. As for the parents, immense support was poured into their children, with proud families, some even teary-eyed, occupying the entire Song Contest auditorium. And for the Kamehameha Schools faculty involved in the Song Contest, frustration was felt to guide students closer to musical virtuoso in their performances, tapping their composer sticks loud to grab the attention throughout many early morning Song Contest practices. I found myself captivated by the Song Contest and all those involved from start to finish, and maybe more anxious than I should have been as the documentary’s viewer to see the final performances of the Kamehameha Schools students, anticipating the winners and the like as if I were a part of it all. Okay, maybe not that seriously, but I hope my point was made. ONE VOICE is a fine documentary that encompasses the Kamehameha Schools Song Contest with a portrayal of the authentic character of Hawaiians close at hand.
— Dara Kim

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COMMUNITY CO-PRESENTERS: East West Players ; Ka Ha; Kamehameha School Alumni Association; IDA