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‘Mārama’ Writer and Director on the Making of the Emotional Horror

April 16, 2026April 15, 2026 Lauren Lola

Taratoa Stappard’s feature film debut, Mārama, starts playing in theaters in the U.S. on Friday, April 17. Having had its world premiere at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival, it’s a Māori Gothic horror set in the mid-19th century, where a young Māori woman (Ariāna Gibson) travels to Yorkshire, England in search of information about her birth parents. However, when she uncovers a dark colonial history, she must take vengeance into her own hands.

Interview, Streaming, Television

Temuera Morrison on Portraying Ruthless Chief Kahekili in ‘Chief of War’

August 1, 2025July 31, 2025 Lauren Lola

Chief of War is a historical drama series co-created by Thomas Pa’a Sibbett and Jason Momoa. Set at the turn of the 19th century, it tells the story of how the warring Hawaiian Islands were unified, in the midst of the threat of colonization.

Animation, Movies

Reo Māori Dub of ‘Moana 2’ Arrives the Same Day as English-Language Counterpart

October 23, 2024November 25, 2024 Lauren Lola

A little over a month remains until Moana 2 hits theaters, and for folks in New Zealand, they’ll have more than one way of experiencing it.

Movies, Reviews

Titles to Watch For From the 44th Hawai’i International Film Festival

October 10, 2024October 9, 2024 Lauren Lola

A content, unmotivated 29-year-old ignites a toxic relationship. The origin story of shaka. A glimpse at the life of the Ambassador of Aloha. A look at Israeli occupation in the West Bank of Palestine before October 7, 2023. Delinquent girls plot their escape from an abusive reform school. Three kids band together to climb up a mountain.

Books, Movies, Television

More AAPI Supernatural Recommendations for Fans of Disney’s ‘So Weird’

May 3, 2022May 3, 2022 Lauren Lola

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month everyone! Last year, to acknowledge both this annual commemoration of contributions from the AAPI community and the ever-present following of the ’90s Disney Channel original series, So Weird, I compiled together a list of supernatural recommendations, created by and about people of the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

Interview, Television

NOC Interview: KJ Apa on All Things ‘Riverdale’

September 1, 2021August 22, 2023 Sophia Soto

KJ Apa brings the beloved character of Archie Andrews to life on The CW’s hit series Riverdale. The show is based on the characters from the Archie Comics. New episodes will continue airing on Wednesdays at 8PM ET and are available to stream next day on The CW. Riverdale has already been renewed for a sixth season as well.

Gaming, Interview, Video Games1 Comment

Flightless Studios Talks New Indie Game ‘Doomsday Vault’ on the Nintendo Switch

July 27, 2021July 27, 2021 Jamal Michel

The New Zealand indie game development studio Flightless has been hard at work expanding their library of thoughtful and rich games that combine a unique experience with an imaginative atmosphere. John O’Reilly, its co-founder and creative director, said that the studio came into the indie development landscape after working on commercial projects the last few years and realized their talents could be applied to making video games as well. O’Reilly and co-founder Greg Harding, who also works as Flightless’s technical director, have made it a point to bring their passion projects to life, with titles like Element and Doomsday Vault.

Movies2 Comments

Disney’s ‘Mulan’ Will be Rooted in Realism

February 27, 2020February 27, 2020 Laura Sirikul

Over a year ago, in October 2018, I was fortunate the attend the set visit to the live-action version of Disney’s Mulan. Many fans, including myself, have waited over 22 years for the animated version to come to life. It was really surreal to see it play out in person on the set in New Zealand.

When plans of the live-action film were announced in 2015, fans immediately were excited with the idea of seeing their favorite characters come to life — from the Hua family guardian, Mushu, to Mulan’s good luck charm, Cri-Kee, and the bisexual icon, Li Shang.

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Movies, Reviews1 Comment

‘Jojo Rabbit’ Sends a Timely Message via Satire, Fascism, and War

November 12, 2019November 25, 2019 Lauren Lola

The 39th Hawaii International Film Festival is currently underway in Honolulu, and the 11-day event began with a stellar opening night screening last Thursday of Taika Waititi’s latest film, Jojo Rabbit. Set in Nazi Europe, the dark comedy loosely based on the Christine Leunens novel, Caging Skies, follows a 10-year-old Hitler Youth (Roman Griffin Davis) who finds out his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their home. Through getting to know her, he comes to question his own beliefs, even in the midst of his imaginary friend, an idiotic version of Adolf Hitler played by Waititi himself, trying to tell him otherwise.

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