Lahaina Voices
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. Through a collaborative effort with the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, Hui Mo‘olelo cohort members interviewed highly revered elders of Lahaina. Professional artists then submitted proposals to bring these stories to life as short, animated films. Upon selection by a community panel, artist Richard O'Connor entered a period of project development to infuse his proposal in Lahaina history, culture and sense of place -- ultimately resulting in a freely accessible work created through community engagement. The final animated shorts are scheduled to be unveiled during a free Hui Mo‘olelo Film Festival in February 2025.
Enjoy the stories that will provide the animation's audio track below:
Enjoy the stories that will provide the animation's audio track below:
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About the Artist
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Richard O'Connor has been involved in creating animation for nearly 30 years. In that time he has produced around 250 short films -both independent and on contract -dozens of commercials, a feature film, and sequences for at least 25 documentaries. These have included theatrical features (Frank Oz' "The Stepford Wives", Merchant/Ivory's "White Countess", Rebecca Miller's "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee"), documentaries ("Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns", "Chicago Ten", "Nursery University"), television (Nickelodeon's "Kablam!", Cartoon Network's "Big Bag", PBS' "Between the Lions") and commercials. Richard writes about things -usually animated things, but not always. He has taught at Parsons School of Design, NYU, University of the Arts, and Rhode Island School Design.
His small crew at Ace & Son Moving Picture Company has been creating animation together for a decade. The studio focuses on independent, educational and documentary animation. Headquartered in a 19th Century stable a stone's throw from the Gowanus Canal, the studio prioritizes traditional drawing and material-based animation processes mixed with contemporary graphics and cinematic sensibility. MORE: https://www.aceandson.com/ |
Sample Work
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Community Consultations
Project launch & ‘Ōlelo No‘eau meeting
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These will additionally include the storytellers who have inspired this proposal and others as engaged.
Is your class or group interested in an animation workshop or tutorial by Richard and his team? We have done these with Baldwin High School, UH Maui College and the Maui Public Art Youth Task Force, and would love to partner with you to keep going! Let us know. |
Project Timeline
- 6/21/24: Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina workshop #1 of 3
- 6/28/24: Hui Mo‘olelo workshop #2 of 3
- 7/5/24: Hui Mo‘olelo workshop #3 of 3
- 7/12/24: Shannon I'i & Amy Petersen of Maui Behavioral Health Wildfire Response (MBHWR)/ Hawai’i State Department of Health coordinate psychological first aid workshop for cohort members led by Michele Navarro Ishiki
- 8/2/24: Hui Mo‘olelo intergenerational recordings deadline
- 8/8/24: RFP is released
- 9/16/24: Community panel meeting
- 9/20/24: Contract issued
- 10/3/24: Project Launch & ‘Ōlelo No‘eau meeting with Sissy Lake-Farm, Kalapana Kollars & MPAC
- TBD: Storyteller meetings with Yayoi Hara, Aunty Sally Ann & Theo Morrison
- TBD: Community engagement activity/ activities
- 2/22/25: Target date to unveil animated film short at 2025 Hui Mo‘olelo Film Festival