Documentary about Mauna Kea garners national recognition

The 2006 documentary “Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege,” which explores the cultural and ecological significance of the volcano amid burgeoning protests over the telescopes being built atop its summit, has been named to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Produced by Joan Lander and her partner Abraham “Puhipau” Ahmad, the 50-minute film was among 25 added to the registry this year as “America’s most influential films.” This year’s additions include blockbusters such as the Batman origin film “The Dark Knight”; Oscar winners “The Hurt Locker” and “Lilies of the Field”; “The Joy Luck Club,” the first major studio release to feature Asian American themes and cast; and “Buena Vista Social Club,” a popular documentary that introduced Cuban pop music to U.S. audiences.

“I didn’t know, until I saw the article on the Library of Congress page, who I was in company with,” Lander said with a laugh in a phone call from her home in Ka‘u on Hawaii island. “I thought there must be a mistake or something.”

Lander and Puhipau, who died in 2016, spent six years working on “Mauna Kea,” filming the beauty and majesty of the volcano in all its seasonal glory “from sea level up to the summit,” Lander said. “You have to be on the mountain for a while to really capture the personality of it,” she said. She remembers having to leave home at 3 a.m. to get to the summit to capture the moment when the sunrise hits the snow and appears to turn it red. “It harkens back to a legend about Kukahau‘ula, who was a god pursuing the goddess Poli‘ahu,” said Lander, a mainland native who first came to Hawaii in 1970 to work in radio.

They also recorded hundreds of hours of public testimony related to the construction of telescopes on the summit, as well as interviews with experts on Native Hawaiian culture and other interested parties.

The recent protests over the Thirty Meter Telescope reminded the Library’s Film Preservation Board of the importance of the film, said board program coordinator Stephen Leggett, noting that it had been considered previously for the registry.

“Richard Masur of the Screen Actors Guild, among other members, lauded ‘Mauna Kea’ for its deft illustration of the ecological, religious, and cultural challenges native/indigenous groups face from commercial and other interests’ proposed use of sacred sites,” he said in an email. “These conflicts have erupted across the country in Hawaii, Arizona, South Dakota, and elsewhere.”

Lander and Puhipau established their film company Na Maka o ka ‘Aina (The Eyes of the Land) in 1980, and since then they’ve created almost 100 films on topics like the Hawaiian sovereignty movement, environmental issues, visual and performing arts, surfing and politics, as well Hawaiian language and education programs. Initially their work was aired on public access television. “Local Hawaiian people were going through all the channels and there wasn’t a whole lot of Hawaiian programming, so whenever our stuff came up, they were all glued to the screen,” Lander said.

“Mauna Kea” was originally broadcast on PBS Hawaii and on a few mainland stations. Mainland college groups and astronomy organizations also ordered DVDs, she said. “It got a decent amount of carriage,” she said, using a term for film viewership.

After years of lugging cameras and other gear around and constantly upgrading their equipment as technology evolved, Lander is impressed by the videos and livestreams that TMT protesters using cellphones sent worldwide during recent protests. “Today’s iPhones have better resolution and quality then our $40,000 cameras from 20 years ago,” she said. “I’m so happy because it makes it so much more accessible to the younger generation, and they’re taking it and running with it.”

“Mauna Kea: Temple Under Siege” and other Na Maka o ka ‘Aina projects can be accessed on vimeo.com/hawaiianvoice.