Cinéma* Stage Plays & Screenplays
*Homage to the French who started it all
MOVIES
Profs
A retiring professor battles his ego, confronts his career, and engages with a rebellious former student, Coco – soon to be his successor. As non-Hawaiians, they are whiplashed by campus identity and branded “colonial settlers.” At a spirited dinner, the two process their shared alienation and struggle to find their kuleana. Two transformative forces lead to a fragile reconciliation. Memories of global peacemaker Petra Kelly and their love for Hawaiʻi Nei.
Sticky
In this short drama/thriller, ingénue Jesse must outwit her greedy agent Blair. Mansplaining, he squanders her acting talents on mind-numbing super-hero IP movies. Nothing is what it seems in this battle between two creatives. Jesse’s final revenge act surprises with seduction, fantasy and glamour.
Mānoa: Historic Rainfall Valley (1980s)
Caraway’s reverence for Hawaiʻi is reflected in two media celebrations: Mānoa: A Rainforest Valley. This grassroots project is a love letter her own neighborhood. As an impact piece, it serves as a bulwark against rapacious developers, short-term renters, and tech billionaires. A documentary film love letter to those who live in and love this glorious rainforest valley. Through interviews and images – the diverse culture and community pay homage to their treasured home.
Tribute to Mary Kawena Pukui (1984)
Written and co-produced by Nancie Caraway, 1984
This episode explores the life and legacy of Hawaiʻi’s cultural guardian, Mary Kawena Pukui. The episode covers her early life, family history, and work to translate Hawaiian culture. Her adopted daughter, Eleanor Williamson, and research assistant, Patience Namaka Bacon, talk about her research and work at the Bishop Museum. The episode concludes with the celebration of the publication of her book ʻŌlelo Noʻeau: Hawaiian Proverbs and Poetical Sayings. The second is a PBS film that celebrates Hawaiʻi’s most revered cultural authority - Mary Kawena Pukui. ʻŌlelo Noʻeau. I served as writer and co-producer of this legacy film, which was aired on PBS.
“I think of screenplays as pieces of writing that should be able to stand on their own...I take pride in the text, including screen directions and parentheticals.
All I have is this script. I want it to be as good, as emotional, as detailed, and as dense as it can be. This is all I have of the movie at this moment.”
— Greta Gerwig
SCREENPLAYS
Five short screenplays ready to shoot
SINGLE USE
A volatile eco-grief counselor in Honolulu, already on probation for boundary issues, is pulled toward radical climate action when her corporate greenwashing rival, her activist mentor, and one of her own teenage group members force her to confront whether therapy if enough in a world choking on plastic.
Misdirection
In this pidgin-heavy, Hawaiʻi-set comedy, we ride along with two siblings - ID, a macho-adjacent trans brother (20-ish), and SUPA-EGO, their younger Gen Z unicorn sister. Today they chug along Farrington Highway on their Saturday holoholo. When stout ID learns they’re the designated driver in Supa-Ego’s tiny Chartreuse yigrui001 Mini electric car, the pair must literally navigate their fragile bonds as well as the road-rage of other drivers.
I Left My Heart In...
What happens when a woman’s dreams become an imperfect vehicle for self-renewal? Inspired by the 1967 French art-house film “Gard du Nord,” two obsessive strangers find themselves strolling San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. This silent short, chance-encounter shocker demands life-changing decisions. Will they escape airless urban lives? Will they run off to Tahiti?
Awake
A negative job evaluation threatens underdog Buddhist priest, Master Park 30s, as he struggles to revive his dwindling Sangha in this comedy short. When he teams up with a pair of sassy female Gen Z influencers, Riley and Diego, 20s, they devise an alt-rock pop-up to entice new members. The kolohe (rascally) spirit of Temple founder, Abbott Kim 70s, proves to be an anarchic guide in this redemptive quest.
Green
“Green”: An original screenplay based on the life of global eco-feminist activist Petra Kelly. “Green” blends fact and fiction into a dramatic portrait of an unforgettable world figure. The German-born charismatic radical leader Petra Kelly co-founded the world’s first eco-feminist party. She had an electrifying public persona and personality and became a world leader, superstar celebrity, and ultimately a martyr.
STAGE PLAYS
“Soulmates”: the Passion of Petra Kelly
Called “Mother Teresa with a clenched fist,” Petra Kelly founded the world’s first eco-feminist party The Greens and became a world leader, superstar celebrity, and ultimately a martyr.
Produced at the Women’s Museum, Washington DC 1991
BLOODLINES
“Why can’t we all just get along?” ‘Bloodlines’ stitches together political struggle and magical realism held together by that haunting question. Reform? Revolt? Repair? Reconcile? Characters are whiplashed between those options to form solidarity and community, and to bring coherance into a divided world.