Cane Fire

Cane Fire​ examines the past and present of the Hawaiian island of Kauaʻi, interweaving four generations of family history, numerous Hollywood productions, and troves of found footage to create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast indigenous and working-class residents as “extras” in their own story.

Countless productions have taken place in Kauaʿi since Hollywood’s Golden Age, many casting residents as extras and each shaping an exoticized popular imagination of the Hawaiian island. In a far-reaching essay-film, Anthony Banua-Simon recovers histories of sugar plantation–era extraction, exploitation, and suppressed labor movements that cinematic representations have obscured by design. Nimbly composed from the filmmaker’s intergenerational family archive, contemporary interviews, Hollywood dramas, and a dizzying range of found footage, Cane Fire is a spirited, urgent counter-narrative. Reflecting on present-day visual culture, economic marginalization, and sovereignty activism on the island, the film above all exudes the power of working class and native Hawaiians telling their own stories of resilience and resistance. Best Feature Documentary Prize, Indie Memphis Film Festival