Palikū Films tells stories with Hawaiian perspective through documentary filmmaking and cross-channel media.
We specialize in projects that call for cultural sensitivity and knowledge, skill sets unique to Palikū amongst local, national and international production houses.
Nāʻālehu Anthony, Principal
My Background
Nāʻālehu Anthony is a Native Hawaiian storyteller and documentary filmmaker from Kaʻaʻawa, O’ahu. Best known for his community advocacy and contributions to Hawaiian cultural content, Anthony cofounded ʻŌiwi TV, the first ever Hawaiian language and culture-focused television network, and was a founding member of ʻĀina Aloha, a coalition focused on developing a vision for Hawaiʻi’s economic future grounded in Hawaiian cultural and identity values. His production company, Palikū Films, helps give voice to Hawaiʻi’s stories through documentaries and oral histories. Their feature-length film, Moananuiākea, documenting the Mālama Honua Worldwide Voyage, was screened in dozens of cities across the U.S. and in Europe and received the Audience Award at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival. Anthony’s approach to cultural storytelling has also informed behavioral change campaigns, such as for the Hawaiʻi Tobacco Quitline, where he tailored broadcast commercials for an advanced audience segmentation strategy designed to promote prevention and cessation to niche locals populations disproportionately suffering from the consequences of tobacco use.
As a member of the Hawaiʻi COVID Collaborative, a hui of private businesses and nonprofit organizations fulfilling the unmet need in public information, Anthony oversees “COVID Pau” — a statewide education and communications project providing the community with real stories about the effect of the pandemic on Hawaiʻi families and offering data interpretation by healthcare professionals, policy experts and economists so Hawaiʻi residents can make informed decisions that protect their health.
Our work
Moananuiākea: One Ocean, One People, One Canoe (2018)
In 1976, a voyaging canoe sparked a cultural revival that quickly spread throughout Polynesia, breathing life into ancient myths and legends. More than four decades later, Hōkūleʻa continues to inspire a new generation of navigators and voyagers to gather their courage and sail beyond the horizon of the Pacific.
Ka Hoʻina: Going Home
(2014)
Ka Ho‘ina: Going Home takes a journey 7,000 miles from Hawaiʻi with members of Hui Mālama I Nā Kūpuna O Hawaiʻi Nei who have worked tirelessly for the past 30 years to bring home over 6,000 sets of iwi kupuna or ancestral remains that were scattered throughout more than 60 different museums, institutions, and agencies around the world.
Papa Mau
(2010)
Papa Mau: The Wayfinder is a feature-length documentary that takes a retrospective look at the influence of Mau Piailug, a native from the tiny Micronesian atoll of Satawal, on reviving the art of non-instrument navigation in Polynesia. In Satawal, navigators are chosen at birth and begin training at an early age, and Mau was recognized as a master.
Nā Loea: The Masters original film series
(2013-2014)
While the ancient art of non-instrument navigation has been rekindled throughout Polynesia, the knowledge of canoe building has been largely forgotten except for a select few artisans. Following in the wake of her sister canoe Hōkūleʻa, the Hawaiʻiloa canoe was hulled from two spruce logs gifted from the tribes of Alaska to prove the ingenuity of traditional building and voyaging techniques
Let’s Play Music! Slack Key with Cyril Pahinui & Friends
(2013)
Flanked by the steep Koʻolau mountains and the blue serenity of the Pacific waters, the humble town of Waimānalo has long been a gathering place for the best of Hawaiian music. It was here that Gabby “Pops” Pahinui held his famous backyard jam sessions. Despite no formal musical training, this virtuoso seamlessly blended a multitude of genres with Hawaiian melodies to develop a distinctive style that persists today.
2014 Nā Hōkū Hanohano Award Winning Film
