The Animated Story of the Hara ʻOhana
This is currently an unlisted page for administrators and partners to refer to as project updates become available.
Reverend Gensho Hara, Lāhainā Jodo Mission & his daughter, Yayoi Hara
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Following the August 2023 wildfires, several groups and individuals reached out to request our Hui Mo‘olelo workshop and story recording approach as a way to help process the experience. In 2024, Yayoi Hara participated in our collaborative Hui Mo‘olelo: Lāhaina program with the Lahaina Restoration Foundation and captured this talk-story with her father, Gensho Hara. Professional artists submitted proposals to bring their story to life as a short, animated film. Upon selection by a community panel, artists Jenna Lee, Syril Pecson, Zach Quemado, and Abby Worthley of the School of Cinematic Arts – University of Hawai'i at Mānoa entered a period of project development to infuse their proposal in Lāhainā history, culture and sense of place -- ultimately resulting in a freely accessible work created through community engagement. The final animated short is scheduled to be unveiled during a free Hui Mo‘olelo Film Festival in February 2025. Listen to the originating conversation below:
• Full Recording HERE • Translated transcript HERE |
Artist Proposal Excerpts
We believe that films are a glimpse into the culture, community, and lives of those who create them. Working hand in hand to bring the stories of others to life allows our animators to educate and immerse themselves into walks of life that we may not otherwise see.
Our team dedicates themselves to understanding the spectrum, intersections, and nuance of human experience and emotion. Each of our animators has worked and engaged in collaborative art projects within our own communities, and we intend to continue this work further. We hope to represent SCA as best as we possibly can.
What we found most meaningful while learning about this opportunity was Maui Public Art Corps’ drive to share the mo‘olelo of kama'aina that give a glimpse into a life we may not know today. Creating art is a way to keep these stories alive, to ensure these memories are not lost to time. As young adults in Hawaiʻi, our team believes it is crucial to get involved with our community in this way.
The Hui Mo‘olelo of Reverend Gensho Hara and his daughter, Yayoi Hara, shares the story of the Lahaina Jodo Mission. The highlighted excerpt from this recording provides a quote from Rafu Shinpou, a Los-Angeles based Japanese newspaper, read aloud by Reverend Gensho Hara. The author reflects upon their experience at the temple; “I pondered the days gone by, wondering when this temple was built and what kind of people had come here”. Emphasized is the admiration, faith, and love that was created within the Lahaina Jodo Mission community, built up from the ground by Reverend Gensho Hara in his 60 years of service to the temple. The author’s detailed explanations create a visual of a point in time, now lost to the Lahaina fire. Our animation team intends to turn this story into an animated short film in hopes of sharing the beauty and impact of Reverend Gensho Hara and the Lahaina Jodo Mission, as well as calling attention to the immense loss caused in the fire. In the service of awareness and a call to action, we want to depict the way in which the community of Lahaina continues to persist through hardship. The specifics of the visuals and narrative we create in our film will be worked out in communication with those directly related to the mo‘olelo.
"I was raised to experience my Japanese heritage through Hawaiʻi’s local lens. My last Japanese-speaking relatives lived three generations before me: my great grandparents that immigrated from Japan to Hawaiʻi. Subsequently, the language was never passed down to me. Growing up with this experience fueled my interest in the Japanese language and my passion for hearing and sharing the stories of other Japanese people in Hawaiʻi. Although we share our Japanese ancestry, our experiences have the capacity to, and often prove to be, vastly different. I want to learn more about the Lahaina Jodo Mission and more about the stories of those who experienced it firsthand. I want to produce an animation that is a love letter to those memories. By sharing Reverend Gensho Hara’s story, I will share a story not only to the islands, but for all people of Japanese descent and beyond." -- Jenna Lee
Our team dedicates themselves to understanding the spectrum, intersections, and nuance of human experience and emotion. Each of our animators has worked and engaged in collaborative art projects within our own communities, and we intend to continue this work further. We hope to represent SCA as best as we possibly can.
What we found most meaningful while learning about this opportunity was Maui Public Art Corps’ drive to share the mo‘olelo of kama'aina that give a glimpse into a life we may not know today. Creating art is a way to keep these stories alive, to ensure these memories are not lost to time. As young adults in Hawaiʻi, our team believes it is crucial to get involved with our community in this way.
The Hui Mo‘olelo of Reverend Gensho Hara and his daughter, Yayoi Hara, shares the story of the Lahaina Jodo Mission. The highlighted excerpt from this recording provides a quote from Rafu Shinpou, a Los-Angeles based Japanese newspaper, read aloud by Reverend Gensho Hara. The author reflects upon their experience at the temple; “I pondered the days gone by, wondering when this temple was built and what kind of people had come here”. Emphasized is the admiration, faith, and love that was created within the Lahaina Jodo Mission community, built up from the ground by Reverend Gensho Hara in his 60 years of service to the temple. The author’s detailed explanations create a visual of a point in time, now lost to the Lahaina fire. Our animation team intends to turn this story into an animated short film in hopes of sharing the beauty and impact of Reverend Gensho Hara and the Lahaina Jodo Mission, as well as calling attention to the immense loss caused in the fire. In the service of awareness and a call to action, we want to depict the way in which the community of Lahaina continues to persist through hardship. The specifics of the visuals and narrative we create in our film will be worked out in communication with those directly related to the mo‘olelo.
"I was raised to experience my Japanese heritage through Hawaiʻi’s local lens. My last Japanese-speaking relatives lived three generations before me: my great grandparents that immigrated from Japan to Hawaiʻi. Subsequently, the language was never passed down to me. Growing up with this experience fueled my interest in the Japanese language and my passion for hearing and sharing the stories of other Japanese people in Hawaiʻi. Although we share our Japanese ancestry, our experiences have the capacity to, and often prove to be, vastly different. I want to learn more about the Lahaina Jodo Mission and more about the stories of those who experienced it firsthand. I want to produce an animation that is a love letter to those memories. By sharing Reverend Gensho Hara’s story, I will share a story not only to the islands, but for all people of Japanese descent and beyond." -- Jenna Lee
Community Consultations
Project launch & ‘Ōlelo No‘eau meeting
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Pre-contract intro meeting
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Project Timeline
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Sample from our 2024 Film Festival
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