UH Manoa Academy for Creative Media Master Class features "Samoan Wedding" star Oscar Kightley

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Tom Brislin, (808) 956-3788
Academy for Creative Media
Posted: Mar 19, 2007

HONOLULU — The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa‘s Academy for Creative Media will host "Samoan Wedding" star and writer Oscar Kightley for a Master Class on screenwriting and acting on the Mānoa campus on Monday, April 2. Kightley, a top New Zealand comic, playwright, and producer of the animated TV series, "bro‘Town," is the 2007 Visiting Artist at the UH Mānoa Center for Pacific Islands Studies. The public is welcome to join the class, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Shidler College of Business, Room C102.

Kightley played lovelorn Albert in "Samoan Wedding" (original title: "Sione‘s Wedding") in addition to writing the screenplay and serving as associate producer. The film was a hit at the 2006 Hawaiʻi International Film Festival and enjoyed a subsequent successful theatrical run in Honolulu.

"Having Oscar at ACM is a great boost to our Indigenous Filmmaking program, led by Merata Mita, a fellow New Zealander," said Chris Lee, Academy director. "ACM is unique in its emphasis on creating original stories that celebrate a Hawaiian and Pacific heritage. Oscar is certainly a leading light."

Kightley was born in Samoa and at age 4 moved to New Zealand with his mother. A Qantas award winning journalist, he co-founded Pacific Underground and the Island Players theatre company, which has produced critically acclaimed work. He worked as a performer and writer for a number of television shows and is a member of the Naked Samoans, who‘ve taken their anarchic brand of comedy around the country and even to Scotland. He is working with the Naked Samoans and Firehorse Films on the third season of "bro‘Town."

Kightley‘s presentation is part of the Jay Shidler Family Foundation Master Class series. His campus visit is sponsored by the Center for Pacific Islands Studies with a grant from the U.S. Department of Education National Resource Center.

The Academy for Creative Media is the university‘s primary place for the production and study of digital media in film, animation, computer game design, indigenous and critical studies.

For more information, visit: http://www.hawaii.edu/acm