When Brian Kohne’s family moved to Maui from Detroit in 1969, the island of Kahoolawe had been used as military bombing target for more than 25 years. From his new home in Maalaea, a 5-year-old Kohne watched the island “get annihilated.” He moved to California for college and stayed on the mainland after graduating, but the memories lingered. He returned to Maui in 2004.
Kohne made his debut as a filmmaker in 2011 with “Get A Job,” a local comedy that grew out of his working relationship with Maui music makers Eric Gilliom and Willie K. His second film, “Kuleana,” released earlier this year, is a dark drama that uses the bombing of Kahoolawe as a backdrop. It will be showing at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Hilo Palace Theater and 7:15 p.m. Nov. 19 at the Waimea Theater on Kauai (facebook.com/KuleanaMovie/).
Kohne, 53, hopes it will raise awareness of the island’s history.
Why did the bombing of Kahoolawe become so important to you?
It made no sense seen through the innocent eyes of a 5-year-old and it really burned a hole in my heart. Through all these years as an artist I’ve been looking forward to saying something about it, but it took me awhile to figure out not just what I wanted to say but how I wanted to say it.
What do you want people to take away from “Kuleana?”
I hope it will spur curiosity about the past and action in the present. My goal is to have people leaving the theater asking “What is my kuleana (area of responsibility)?”
“Kuleana” takes place on Maui. Are Maui residents likely to watch your films and say “I know who he based that character on?”
Probably not. I don’t tend to explicitly base a character on any particular person. In the case of Merton in “Get a Job,” that character was probably based on five different people that I know, including myself.
What got you interested in filmmaking?
I started making movies at Baldwin High School when I was 16. I’ve always loved cinema but the first time I really fully understood the impact of cinema was when I saw “Airport ‘75.” I was in the “He Man Girl-Haters Club” but I walked out head-over-heels in love with Karen Black, and I really started to understand that this art form had the capacity to move and transcend.
What would you like to be doing five years from now?
Making more movies. I have another story that I’ve been working on for 10 years. It’s not a Hawaii story, but I’m working on a few other Hawaii stories too.
