The Global Lens International Film Festival, which took place at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo in October, spotlighted different countries and were introduced by a current UH Hilo student with connections to that country. The theme of the film festival was, “Expose. Engage. Inspire.”
“We have students from really interesting parts of the world, and they have really interesting personal stories and perspectives to share,” said Jim Mellon, executive director of UH Hilo global and intercultural education programs and lead planner of the event. “I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we selected films that highlighted parts of the world where we have students from.”
- Film: They Call It Myanmar (focus on Burma)
They Call It Myanmar, takes an in-depth look at everyday life in a country governed by military regime. It depicts problems in the medical sector, a sweeping mass of poverty, government oppression, child labor and restrictive freedom of basic human rights.
Mya Yee Nandar, a UH Hilo nursing student on exchange from Burma, presented the film on the first night. She wishes to return to her home country and open a set of health clinics to people in regions that are difficult to access.
Nandar explained she was inspired to get into healthcare while acting as a tour guide for a German couple in Burma. They stopped at a small village and were taken in by a family. Nandar soon realized that the family was suffering from some kind of sickness and that the closest medical relief was days away. The grandmother of the household came to her asking for help. Nandar says she remembers feeling powerless. That night, the grandmother died.
She is very glad to share her untold and unseen world and that “there is acknowledgement of our existence.”
- Films: Forgotten Bird of Paradise and The Road Home (focus on West Papua) and The Act of Killing (focus on Indonesia)
Forgotten Bird of Paradise acts as an introduction to West Papua and the current challenges it is facing. It paints the picture of a proud tribal culture that has lost more than 500,000 lives to what is being defined as an active genocide against the West Papuans by the Indonesian government.
The Road Home follows Nobel Peace Prize nominee and West Papuan independence leader Benny Wenda in his struggle to liberate his people from Indonesian colonial rule.
The Act of Killing takes the viewer into Indonesia and the world of Indonesian politics. It hands the reins of film direction—with total creative license—over to the country’s celebrated political gangsters who were responsible for the mass execution and genocide of Chinese and Indonesian communists in their country.
Peter Ramofolo, from the Solomon Islands, introduced the three films presented. He has helped start one of the biggest social networks in the Solomon Islands, which acts as a non-government organization to form a direct line of contact between civilians and the local government. He also runs a Facebook page to help raise awareness for the West Papuan population, maintaining contact with many key individuals working toward independence in the region.
- Film: A Guerra de Beatriz (focus on Timor-Leste)
The third and final night’s film, A Guerra de Beatriz, was one of the first public showings made available in the United States. It is Timor-Leste’s first feature length film portraying a sincere and poignant love story taking place during the Indonesian occupation of the country.
Helio Miguel Arcanjo Oliveira de Araujo opened his remarks by talking about how few people know about Timor-Leste. He is from the village featured in the film he presented. There was a massacre in the town and in his introduction, he recounted how the village became known as “The Village of Widows” because all of the young men had been killed. “I remember, growing up, that I never saw any old men because they all passed away in that massacre,” he says.
“I want to continue (on with) my master’s degree in Western countries,” he explains about his future. “I want to teach in schools, as we still lack qualified teachers in the related field in our education.”
For the full article and more about Peter Ramofolo, Mya Yee Nandar and Helio Miguel Arcanjo Oliveira de Araujo, go to the UH Hilo Stories website.
—A UH Hilo Stories article by Lara Hughes, a junior at UH Hilo majoring in business administration and a public information intern in the UH Hilo Office of the Chancellor
