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\u201cEA (SOVEREIGN)\u201d PC: Courtesy<\/p>\n\n\u201cEA (SOVEREIGN)\u201d PC: Courtesy<\/p>\n
\u201cEA (SOVEREIGN),\u201d the feature-length documentary exploring\u00a0the enduring relationship between people, land, and memory, will have\u00a0its international premiere at the prestigious 2026 imagineNATIVE Film +\u00a0Media Arts Festival in Toronto, Canada.<\/p>\n
Selection at imagineNATIVE marks a major milestone for the film, placing\u00a0it within the world\u2019s largest presenter of Indigenous-made screen\u00a0content and one of the world\u2019s most respected platforms for Indigenous\u00a0cinema and media arts.<\/p>\n
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Ke\u02bbeaumoku Kapu in the film \u201cEA (SOVEREIGN)\u201d PC: Courtesy<\/p>\n
\u201cEA (SOVEREIGN)\u201d follows the Kapu family\u2019s decades-long struggle to defend\u00a0kuleana lands in Kaua\u02bbula Valley. Central to the documentary is Kanaka\u00a0\u02bb\u014ciwi community leader Ke\u02bbeaumoku Kapu, whose commitment to restoring\u00a0and revitalizing his family\u2019s lands is traced through court proceedings,\u00a0\u02bbohana life, and the \u02bb\u0101ina itself. The film captures the historic quiet\u00a0title jury trial over lands in the valley, an uncommon proceeding in\u00a0Hawai\u02bbi that placed long-running questions of land ownership, plantation\u00a0history, and Hawaiian rights before a jury.<\/p>\n
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The documentary also honors the enduring legacy of N\u0101 \u02bbAik\u0101ne o Maui\u00a0Cultural Center, which has been led for many years by the Kapu \u02bbohana.\u00a0Though the Center\u2019s physical home was lost in the August 2023 Lahaina\u00a0fire, the cultural knowledge, practices, and purpose nurtured there continue through the community that carries its work onward. In doing\u00a0so, \u201cEA (SOVEREIGN)\u201d affirms that the protection of \u02bb\u0101ina and culture\u00a0lives beyond any single building or physical space.<\/p>\n
Featuring interviews with Ke\u02bbeaumoku Kapu, U\u02bbilani Kapu, Akoni Akana,\u00a0Sam Ka\u02bbai, Ekela Kaniaupio-Crozier, and others, the film frames\u00a0sovereignty not as an abstract political idea, but as daily kuleana.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Grounded in genealogy, place, and lived experience, these voices connect\u00a0the Kapu family\u2019s story to a larger movement for sovereignty and\u00a0self-determination across Hawai\u02bbi.<\/p>\n
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The film\u2019s visual language brings together expansive landscape\u00a0cinematography, archival materials, and contemporary Indigenous\u00a0storytelling. Original animation and digital mapping help illuminate\u00a0both the physical geography of Kaua\u02bbula Valley and the layered histories\u00a0held within the land.<\/p>\n
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Directed by Noah Keone Viernes and Sancia Miala Shiba Nash, \u201cEA\u00a0(SOVEREIGN)\u201d is at once a record of resilience and a call to reckon with\u00a0the continuing impacts of dispossession in Hawai\u02bbi. Rooted in the Kapu\u00a0family\u2019s experience, the film reaches beyond Lahaina to speak to shared\u00a0responsibilities to protect \u02bb\u0101ina for future generations. The film was\u00a0produced by Viernes and Lance D. Collins.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
EA | SOVEREIGN \u2013 Documentary Official Trailer. VC: Empty Streets<\/a><\/p>\n