Prolific Native Hawaiian producer HEATHER HAUNANI GIUGNI (Family Ingredients) left the world of television news to start the first woman-owned production company in Hawai‘i.
Director, producer, writer: Shirley Thompson
Series producers: Shirley Thompson & Vera Zambonelli
Trailer for 39 1/2, an independent feature film which mixes narrative drama, comedy and animation to follow the journey of a single, female filmmaker pushing 40 and determined to have a child by virtually any means necessary.
In Adios Amor, the discovery of lost photographs sparks the search for a hero that history forgot—Maria Moreno, a migrant mother driven to speak out by her twelve children’s hunger. Years before Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta launched the United Farm Workers, Maria picked up the only weapon she had—her voice—and became an outspoken leader in an era when women were relegated to the background.
An intimate chronicle of hippie elders and their adult children, filmed over a 10-year period at a communal ranch in New Mexico. The founders of this back-to-the-land experiment are slowing down and facing declining health. Will the next generation be able to sustain the community?
Just One Drop tells the little known story of homeopathy: the highly controversial system of medicine. Homeopathy is a specific form of medicine that uses minute doses of a highly diluted substance that stimulates the body to cure itself. The film explores the controversy, dispels myths and misconceptions, and asks whether or not homeopathy been given a fair shake.
Shipped thousands of miles away from the tropical islands of Hawaii to a private prison in the Arizona desert, two native Hawaiians discover their indigenous traditions from a fellow inmate serving a life sentence. It’s from this unlikely setting that David and Hale finish their terms and return to Hawaii, hoping for a fresh start. Eager to prove to themselves and to their families that this experience has changed them forever, David and Hale struggle with the hurdles of life as formerly incarcerated men, asking the question: can you really go home again?
Trailer editor & editor of PBS version: Shirley Thompson
An intimate portrait of Native Hawaiian activist George Terry Kanalu Young told through the stories of those who knew and loved him. National broadcast on PBS in 2018. Official selection Hawai‘i International Film Festival, CAAMfest, Superfest International Disability Film Festival.
A sweeping history detective story that spans decades, filmmaker Robin Lung investigates the story of an unsung film heroine, Li Ling-Ai, who along with Rey Scott, made a documentary about World War 2 China in 1939 that won an Academy Award. But the film has been lost and no one has seen it for over 60 years…until Lung uncovers what may be the last remaining print. Why was the film lost? And why has no one ever heard the story of film pioneer Li Ling-Ai? Official selection DOCNYC, Special Jury Award Hawai‘i International Film Festival, CAAMFest Special Jury Award.
Film editor, producer, trailer editor: Shirley Thompson
