Hawaii International Film Festival 2009

The Pu'a Foundation will present THE ROYAL GIFT, the first video in a four-part educational series, as well as a panel discussion with Board President Mark Kawika Patterson, Executive Director Toni Bissen, and commissioned staff Dr. David Keanu Sai and Kaui Sai Dudoit. THE ROYAL GIFT examines Hawaiian society in the years before Kamehameha I up through Kamehameha III. It was developed under the Foundation's Hawaiian Historical Production Project, which promotes a contextual understanding of the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy. The video will help the panel members convey a deeper and clearer understanding of the historical, cultural, spiritual, economic and political environment surrounding the overthrow and reconciliation.

The Pu'a Foundation was established in 1996 as part of the apology, redress, and reconciliation initiatives of the United Church of Christ and the Hawaiian people for the Church's complicity in the overthrow. Pu'a seeks to reconcile the past to the present so that as a Hawaii community, a better future can be built.