It is not every day that Chilean and Hawaiian culture find themselves at the heart of a film. But that is exactly what is at play in the short film “Pilina,” written and directed by the Chilean American filmmaker Carolina Espiro, who is also an actress in several Hawaiʻi-based television shows.
The film’s producer is Jana Park, who calls Mānoa home. When asked to describe the story in just three words, she picked: heartfelt, hilarious and groundbreaking.
“You don't see a lot of Chilean and Hawaiian culture together,” Park told Aloha State Daily. “It’s really cool because it's rooted in a true story.”
Espiro and Park spoke with ASD about the short film, which follows the story of a 70-year-old Chilean seamstress who joins a hālau and finds joy and sisterhood.
It is a senior coming of age story, Espiro added.
“She completely reinvents herself — reconnects to who she was — and kind of blossoms after finding hula,” she said.
Espiro, who moved to the U.S. from Chile when she was 2 years old, has been an actress in several Hawaiʻi-based television series, including “Rescue: HI-Surf” and “Magnum P.I.”
Her film “Pilina” is part of the American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women, a tuition-free program for emerging filmmakers. The program counts poet Maya Angelou and actress Cicely Tyson among its alumni.
“This project reflects the depth of pilina — connection — between people, cultures and generations,” said Kumu Hula Chase Keoki Wang of Hālau Nā Mamo O Panaʻewa in a written statement. “Manu [Carolina] is the first in our hālau to ʻūniki hoʻopaʻa [graduate as drummer/keeper of chants] … so she understands the importance that stories like this are told with care, intention and a true understanding of the ʻike and responsibility that comes with hula.”
Espiro’s narrative debut was the short film “The Avon Lady,” which won 12 awards. She also directed a music video for four-time Grammy winner Kalani Peʻa, which will premiere in 2026.
But she got the idea for this film right before the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This film has kind of been a long time coming,” Espiro said. “I am a writer/director, transitioning from a 20-year acting career, but I actually started out as a dancer.”
The actress and filmmaker was a dance major in college.
“Chile has a very interesting relationship with Polynesian culture with Rapa Nui and all of that,” she said. “It was always ingrained in us a love for Polynesian dance. When we were growing up, my parents and I would go to Hawaiʻi a lot. I would watch the hula, and I'd be like: ʻI'd love to do that, but there's no way I can, because I'm not Hawaiian.’”
At her 10-year college reunion, Espiro caught up with a friend from Hawaiʻi who was an assistant teacher at a hālau. That friend explained how hula is a kuleana, or responsibility, to carry on a lineage and culture, and encouraged her to join a hālau.
Espiro joined. Her mother followed.
“We started to realize how much we had missed not having our family around — not having that community and culture,” she said. “And how much we were getting that back being in hālau, being surrounded by children. And how everyone's called auntie. In Chile, you're called tía. And how food bonds people — and music — and people gathering around, harmonizing over guitar. It just all came back.”
The experience inspired this film.
“My favorite part of the film is where the main character sees the hula and is inspired and touched by it,” Park said. “Because it really took me back to when I lived in Los Angeles a long time ago, and I wasn't really homesick for Hawaiʻi very much, but one day — after living there for several years — I did go to Ho'olaule'a in Northridge, and I saw hula being performed, especially by little kids. It made me really homesick just because there's so much power and culture in it, and there's so much mana, right? So that moment when she sees the hula. She sees these women performing. And she feels that, I think that's just really special, and it's a catalyst for the story, too.”
The film has a fundraising goal of $50,000. So far, the film has raised about $20,000 toward that goal.
“We're looking for support — for the community to follow the journey of the film — and then, of course, share it,” Park said.
In-kind donations and financial support are welcome.
The short will premiere along with others in its American Film Institute Directing Workshop for Women cohort at the Directors Guild of America Theater Complex in Los Angeles in February of 2027.
Follow “Pilina” on Instagram for updates.
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Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
