{"id":7595,"date":"2010-02-20T16:40:09","date_gmt":"2010-02-21T00:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7595"},"modified":"2010-02-20T16:52:13","modified_gmt":"2010-02-21T00:52:13","slug":"hana-surf-girls-russ-spencer-2010-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=7595","title":{"rendered":"Hana Surf Girls (Russ Spencer, 2010): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Lava Farmer<\/a>. \u00a0Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Director Russ Spencer<\/a> gives us a look at the unique and exciting lives of two local Hana girls in his documentary, Hana Surf Girls<\/a>. \u00a0We are first introduced to the gorgeous east coast of Maui and the isolated town of Hana. \u00a0Here we meet few of the local surf groms, including Monyca Byrne-Wickey. \u00a0Monyca is a 17 year old Hana surf girl who rips it up everyday. \u00a0With high school graduation right on the horizon, she is forced to make decisions about how she will carry out her future. \u00a0Meanwhile, her best friend Lipoa Kahaleuahi is going through struggles of her own while being a freshman at UCSB. \u00a0Lipoa is also a Hana surf girl and feels concerned for the home she left behind and wary of the new one she now found herself in.<\/p>\n

Through the use of cross-cutting and parallel editing, Spencer juxtaposes the peaceful and magnificent landscape of Hana with the crowded and bustling streets of Isla Vista and UCSB. \u00a0One shot shows us the annual Hana Surfing Games which is a fun filled family style surfing event, which is then paralleled by the sickening scene of the crowds of people who cover the coastline for Isla Vista Floatopia. \u00a0This is a key illustration of the difference between the two worlds. \u00a0Simultaneously however, cross-cutting of Monyca surfing in Maui and Lipoa surfing in California creates a visual feeling of comradery between the two characters.<\/p>\n

The narration throughout the film was actually done by Monyca and Lipoa themselves, giving it a really fun and intimate feel. \u00a0They said that through collaborating with Spencer via interviews they were able to come up with a script very easily. \u00a0When Spencer started out making the film not even he was sure what it was going to be about. \u00a0Therefore, he let the story unfold naturally and tell itself.<\/p>\n

Spencer’s timing was impeccable. \u00a0He was able to jump in at just the perfect time to capture this monumental period in two young women’s lives. \u00a0Thanks to the support of their families and the Hana community the girls face their challenges and overcome them with grace and optimism about the future. \u00a0Montages of the breathtaking Hana and the loving people that it is home to reveal the importance of family and a strong and supportive community. \u00a0The film shows us how every event in Hana is a family event and everyday in Hana is full of pure fun-loving activities. \u00a0The Hana lifestyle is definitely one to be envied, but it teaches us to have pride in where we come from and never forget who got us here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Lava Farmer. \u00a0Viewed at Santa Barbara Film Festival. Director Russ Spencer gives us a look at the unique and exciting lives of two local Hana girls in his documentary, Hana Surf Girls. \u00a0We are first introduced to the gorgeous east coast of Maui and the isolated town of Hana. \u00a0Here we meet few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":736,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,131],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films","category-santa-barbara-film-festival-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}