A free family screening of “Moana 2” in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi is headed for Ko Olina, where families can watch it under a sky full of stars on Saturday, Nov. 14. Moviegoers can bring a picnic dinner and low chairs. The film will include English subtitles.
The event starts at 5 p.m. at the Kekai Place lawn. It will also include a meet-and-greet with members of the ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi cast and a visit from nonprofit Nā Kama Kai’s double-hull sailing canoe, Kūmau.
“To be able to have the kids get their hands on a canoe and then watch ʻMoana’ afterwards in ‘Ōlelo Hawaiʻi is very special,” said Ty Sanga, one of the movie's producers, who is also partner and president of Kūmau Productions. “And hopefully, the idea is to create these fun memories for our families.”
The Disney movie was brought to life in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi by Kūmau Productions. Its a story that is familiar for Sanga, his wife who sang scratch tracks of some of the songs for the actors so they could hear the intonation in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, and their daughters.
The ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi version of the Disney movie stars the voice of Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, Kaipu Baker as Maui, Pualalea Panaewa as Loto, Moses Goods as Kele, Kauʻi Kaina as Matangi, and Kailani Lucey as Simea, with additional vocals from Kaʻikena Scanlan for Maui and ʻOʻoe Carr for Matangi, as previously reported by Maui News Now.
“I am in awe of the talent that is Auliʻi Cravalho,” Sanga told Aloha State Daily. “She was here in Hawaiʻi. It's a feature film with five songs and complicated dialogue, and she did it all in five days, which is an amazing feat. I think she did even two songs in one day. … She went almost the whole day singing and speaking ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi. She's a machine. She is the highest caliber of what a Hawaiian performer should be, and it was just amazing to see her work.”
People can watch the movie on Disney+. After selecting “Moana 2,” they can toggle between languages like Spanish, French and ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.
“Anybody can watch it as long as you have Disney+, which is fantastic because that's accessible worldwide so people around the world should be able to listen to the film in the Hawaiian language and hear the music in Hawaiian language, which is one of the goals that we've been pushing for a long time,” the producer said.
The show is part of a growing number of films in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi that are now available on major streaming platforms. The nine episode mini-series “Chief of War,” which was filmed almost entirely in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi, is streaming on Apple TV+.
“We have a big diaspora of Hawaiian community members, — both Native Hawaiian and not Native Hawaiian — and they're always looking for ways to connect back home,” Sanga said. “To be able to have a mainstream film, ʻMoana,’ our Pacific heroine be speaking in our Hawaiian language is just one more extra step for them to feel back home here in Hawaiʻi.”
Katie Helland can be reached at katie@alohastatedaily.com.
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