ʻĀina Paikai is a native Hawaiian filmmaker that aims to amplify Pacific and indigenous voices in media. Paikai earned his B.A. from the University of Hawaiʻi’s Academy for Creative Media, where he studied indigenous aesthetics under the pioneer filmmaker from Aotearoa (New Zealand), Merata Mita. He started his career at ʻŌiwiTV, Hawaiʻi’s only indigenous television broadcast company, where he was a producer on MELE MURALS (2016), a documentary on the transformative power of modern graffiti art and ancient Hawaiian culture. A Sundance Native Lab Fellow and crew member of the voyaging canoe, Hōkūleʻa, Paikai is the founder of his independent film production company, Kamaʻāina Creations. He wrote and acted in the award-winning short-film, DOWN ON THE SIDEWALK IN WAIKĪKĪ (2019), inspired by the life and words of poet Wayne Kaumualii Westlake. His latest short-film, HAWAIIAN SOUL (2020), is a drama that celebrates the music and message of George Helm Jr., the famed musician and activist that helped to stop the target bombing’s on the island of Kahoʻolawe. From 2020-2022, HAWAIIAN SOUL won Best Short Film awards at 6 international film festivals and qualified to be nominated for Best Live Action Short Film at the 2023 Oscars®.