Christopher Kahunahana

Writer, Director, Waikiki the Film

Kahunahana is an award-winning Kanaka Maoli, Native Hawaiian Artist and Filmmaker, and a Sundance Institute Feature Film and Native Lab Alumni. As founder of 4th World Film, he directed LĀHAINĀ NOON, which is currently streaming on the Criterion Channel, as well as a pseudo-documentary for the Smithsonian Institute’s Asian Pacific American “”A Day in the Life”” project.

He is the writer, producer, director, and editor of WAIKIKI which premiered at the URBAN WORLD Film Festival in 2020. WAIKIKI has been recognized with numerous awards including A Grand Jury Award for Best US Narrative Feature and a Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography at The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Best Made in Hawaii Feature Film and Jury Award for Best Cinematography at the Hawaii International Film Festival, A Grand Prize Best Feature Award at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival and Honorable Mention Jury Award from the Bentonville Film Festival. WAIKIKI has been praised as “stunning”, “powerful”, “nuanced” “a surrealistic journey” “of critical importance.”

His latest project PIKO, a 360-degree VR immersive installation is being shown at the Honolulu Museum of Artsʻ, and he is currently writing ʻAIMANʻ a near-future sci-fi episodic and LUMA a meditation on photography and image. In 2022 He is attached to direct two feature films.