The University of Hawai‘i–West O‘ahu will host a special event featuring a screening of “Te Puna Ora, The Source of Life,” a documentary film presentation by the Festival International du Film Documentaire Océanien (FIFO), followed by a panel discussion. The event will be on Wednesday, Oct. 15, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the UH West O‘ahu Academy for Creative Media Theater.
“Te Puna Ora, The Source of Life” (see preview of the film here) is a documentary film about three Tahitian women who fight against the privatization of their island’s natural resources and cultural heritage, inspired by the legend of the goddess Hina.
The film was featured at FIFO 2025, where it showcased the growing environmental movement and indigenous voices in French Polynesia. The film explores the balance between ancestral knowledge, environmental policy, and the protection of land and ocean from unsustainable development.
FIFO, which translates in English to International Oceanian Documentary Film Festival, is an annual film festival held on the French Polynesian island of Tahiti.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion co-facilitated by Samantha Farinella, Assistant Professor with the Academy for Creative Media at UH West O‘ahu, and Dr. Alexander Mawyer, Director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at UH Mānoa.
The guest speakers are (in alphabetical order):
- Dr. William “Matt” Cavert, UH West O‘ahu
- Dr. Mary Hattori, East-West Center and Pacific Islands Development Program
- Dr. Manu Aluli Meyer, UH West O‘ahu Kūlana o Kapolei
- Dr. Kawika Winter, Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology and He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve
The event, open to all, is made possible by Hetereki Huke A., Tepuku Research Centre, and FIFO. Seating for the screening and panel discussion to follow is limited and available on a first-come, first-serve basis.
About the panelists and facilitators
Dr. William “Matt” Cavert (panelist) is an Assistant Professor of History at UH West O‘ahu. Cavert received his Ph.D. from UH Mānoa in the spring of 2022. His doctoral research focused on the intersection of environment, culture, and colonial development programs in the French colonial Pacific from 1842 to 1931. He has published articles on the Third Plague Pandemic and Spanish Influenza in the colonial ports of Nouméa and Pape‘ete, respectively. He currently teaches courses on the history of disease, environment, and empire at UH West O‘ahu.
Dr. Mary Hattori (panelist) is Director of the Pacific Islands Development Program. Prior to this, she was a Scholarship Program Specialist in the East-West Center’s Education Program, Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning and Associate Professor of Education at Chaminade University; Outreach Director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at UH Mānoa; and Associate Professor of Information Technology and Director of the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching and Technology at Kapi‘olani Community College. A native Chamoru of Guåhan (Guam), Hattori is also an author, poet, public speaker, and philanthropist.
Dr. Manu Aluli Meyer (panelist) is Konohiki of Kūlana o Kapolei, a Hawaiian Place of Learning at UH West O‘ahu. Aunty Manu is dedicated to the role Indigenous epistemology will play in world-wide awakening. She has been a wilderness instructor, educator, writer, coach, and haku ho‘oponopono for 40+ years. She is now focused on planting uluniu — coconut groves throughout Hawai‘i.
Dr. Kawika Winter (panelist) is a multidisciplinary ecologist who has focused his research and professional career on large scale biocultural restoration of social-ecological systems in Hawai‘i. His particular areas of interest include revival of traditional resource management, and he operates in the spheres of academia, conservation, and policy. He is Director at the He‘eia National Estuarine Research Reserve on O‘ahu, holds a faculty position at the Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology (UH Mānoa), and is an Affiliate Faculty in Natural Resources and Environmental Management (UH Mānoa).
Samantha Farinella (co-facilitator) is a veteran NYC filmmaker, now based in Honolulu, and the founder of One Angry Woman Productions. Her work has screened in over a hundred film festivals and been recognized with 25 awards. Farinella’s latest feature length project, “Hunting in Wartime,” premiered nationally on PBS and won five awards including the Big Sky Award at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. In addition to her filmmaking, she brings extensive experience in television production and advertising, and serves as an Assistant Professor in the Academy for Creative Media at UH West O‘ahu.
Dr. Alexander Mawyer (co-facilitator) is Director of the Center for Pacific Islands Studies, Chair of the Department of Pacific Islands Studies and Professor in Pacific Studies at the UH Mānoa. His research interests include language and space in Oceanic linguistics, biocultural indicators and dynamics, multidimensional wellbeing, conservation and sovereignty, and marine resource governance in the Pacific. He served as editor for “The Contemporary Pacific: A Journal of Island Affairs” from 2016 to 2022. He sits on the Board of the University of Hawai’i Press and is a member of the scientific committee of the The Rāhui Center in Tahiti among other board memberships.