Princess Kaiulani
Princess Kaiulani is the inspiring true story of the Hawaiian princess who was forced to flee her homeland for Victorian England as the kingdom she was to inherit faced civil unrest. Actress Q’orianka Kilcher secured the title role of Princess Kaiulani after the production auditioned over 60 candidates in Los Angeles for the adult Kaiulani role. Kilcher had previously portrayed Pocahontas in the The New World, opposite Colin Farrell. Kilcher’s origins are part Huachipaeri and Quechua Indian on her father’s Peruvian side and she was born in Germany to a Swiss mother but lived in Hawaii until she was 10 years old. Kilcher recently said she believes she was cast as Kaiulani as much for her activism as her acting. Kilcher stars in Princess Kaiulani alongside Barry Pepper (Flags of Our Fathers, The Green Mile, Saving Private Ryan), Will Patton (A Mighty Heart, Armageddon) and Shaun Evans (Being Julia, Cashback).
Following principal photography in Hawaii, the final leg of filming was completed on location in England at Holkham Hall in Norfolk. The filmmaking team includes award-winning cinematographer, Gabriel Beristain (Street Kings, The Green Mile, The Night Watchman), production designer, Steven Lawrence (Casino Royale, Titanic) and Academy award-winning composer, Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare In Love). Produced by the UK’s Matador Pictures, Hawaii-based Island Film Group, and Trailblazer Films. Producers are Matador’s Nigel Thomas (The Wind That Shakes the Barley) and Lauri Apelian, IFG’s Ricardo Galindez and Roy Tjioe and Trailblazer’s Marc Forby (Prom Night).Synopsis
Set against the dramatic island backdrop of Hawaii and based on the inspiring true story, Princess Kaiulani is a breathtaking romance about an unlikely heroine and her unwavering fight to defend the independence of her people.
In1888, Hawaii was a paradise teetering on the brink of civil unrest. The tide had turned against the long-incumbent royal family, under the malevolent influence of a rebel party with links to the American government. Within months, the Palace was overthrown, and the royals exiled.
Among them was the beautiful Princess Kaiulani. Scarcely 13 years old, she was separated from her family and her homeland and for her own safety, sent to a climate and a country that couldn’t be more different from Hawaii - Victorian England.
Coming to terms with her fate, Kaiulani underwent a harsh and testing education that equipped her with a sense of honor, duty and pride. What's more, she fell in love, with the spirited and rebellious young Englishman, Clive Davies.
Emerging from her childhood, and inspired by her blossoming romance, Kaiulani realized she had to bring an end to the injustices suffered by her people and set to sail for America, to meet President Grover Cleveland, to prove that she and her people were not the “barbarians” portrayed by the American press.
Princess Kaiulani combines the profound natural beauty of Hawaii with the sweeping romance of a classic Merchant Ivory epic.
The Characters
Kaiulani (Q’orianka Kilcher)
Kaiulani is a young Princess destined to inherit a doomed Kingdom. As civil unrest breaks out in her home country of Hawaii, Kaiulani is forced to grow up fast when she is taken away from her beloved home and sent to live in Victorian England. She matures into a caring and compassionate young woman, always holding the memories of her deceased mother and the land where she was born, close to her heart. When she meets Clive, she falls deeply in love and resolves to marry him. But when conflict heightens in her kingdom, she must make the toughest of decisions when she must choose between two loves. Unable to ignore the injustices that her people, the Kanaka, are enduring, she gathers all her courage and sets off in an attempt to win her country back.
Kilcher explained, “In her short years, Ka’iulani was a principled international diplomat, ahead of her time, who spoke out on behalf of her Peoples and nation. Highly educated, and using the media to highlight her message, the young Ka’iulani traveled to Washington DC at the age of only 17 to address and speak to the United States President, in her effort to stop the Annexation of Hawaii.”
“Ka’iulani’s courage, compassion, diplomacy, Grace and internal strength and dignity make her an amazing young role model, especially for young woman.”
Princess Ka’iulani’s Story does not only give us an insight into an important and often forgotten dark chapter of Hawaii’s History, but it also is a story of courage and Hope.”
“Furthermore” Kilcher explains, “Ka’iulani’s Life and Plea for her people carries a message of absolute contemporary relevance in the context of the United Nations declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples and issues still faced by many of the 360 million indigenous peoples around the world who are struggling until this day for dignity, self determination and cultural survival.”
“Being a young Indigenous Woman, and having spoken at the UN declaration of Indigenous Peoples Rights in Washington DC myself at the age of 16, her story is very close to my heart.”
“I am not Hawaiian, so even thought I felt very honoured to play one of my great role models, I was a little nervous.
Taking on this role, I felt a big sense of responsibility to do Ka’iulani’s Memory justice.”
“I felt that In accepting the role, I had a strong responsibility to not only approach this role as an actress but also try my very best to carry forward Ka’iulani’s message and inspiration within my own personal Life and actions.”
“I did lots of research, I read lots of books and once I came back to Hawaii I sat down with some elders and listened to their stories and sat on the beach with them and I went to pay my respects to Kaiulani. It’s good to be back where I grew up. I was here between the ages of two and nine, I loved Hawaii and in my heart I’ve never left. I’ve always considered it my home.”
In doing this film my hopes are that it will carry some of her messages, courage, hopes, Aloha and the strength she had for her people. Also, I hope that her story will not only inspire people to do more research about Hawaii’s History but also inspire dialogue while creating a platform for Hawaiian people to have their voices heard on an international level.
Clive Davies (Shaun Evans)
Clive is the strong-minded son of wealthy trader and long time friend of Kaiulani’s father Archie. When we meet Clive, he is immature and resentful of Kaiulani’s initial sense of entitlement. As they both grow older and learn more about one another, it is Kaiulani’s free spirit and tenacity that draws him to her. He soon falls in love and makes it his mission to make her happy. When he learns of the growing turmoil in Hawai’i, his determination to hold on to his Princess and his fear of losing her leads him to make a mistake which he may come to regret.
Evans explained, “The relationship between my character and the Princess is love – first time love and young love in all its passion. When you think it can take over everything and it crosses all boundaries and no matter what, you’ll be together and you can overcome anything. I remember the first time I was in love with someone and all of those dramas, and how intoxicating it can be if there is a higher power separating you, which is a classic Romeo and Juliet story, to a degree.”
“Shooting in Hawaii at the beginning of the whole process, as opposed to shooting in England first and then going to Hawaii, it made all the difference because, although you have a passion for the story, and a passion for the characters, actually going to the place and meeting the people, and seeing how passionate they were about the Monarchy and about the Princess, and what they want the rest of the world to see – that was incredible because it makes you really want to do the story justice.”
“I think Q’orianka is brilliant in the film. She just looks breath-taking and, the way she carries herself with poise and elegance, I think she does a fantastic job. There’s a real nobility, as well as a warmth and accessibility to her, which I think was the whole point of the Hawaiian Royal Family - that they were elevated to a degree, but still approachable.”
Archie (Jimmy Yuill)
Archie is Kaiulani’s loving, and at times slightly overbearing, Scottish father. Distraught by the loss of his late wife and fearful of losing his only daughter, he makes the decision to send Kaiulani to Victorian England to live with his close friends, the Davies, when conflict breaks in Hawaii. Proud of the woman his little girl becomes, he accompanies her years later on her mission to win back her country, supporting her completely and urging her on when the situation begins to look bleak.
Thurston (Barry Pepper)
Born the son of an American missionary, greedy and power-hungry Thurston’s love of Hawaii has more to do with what the country can do for him than anything else. Claiming to be speaking on behalf of the people of Hawaii, he takes things too far when he launches a siege against the monarchy. He gets his way when he succeeds in dooming the Kingdom to American colonization, but lowers his guard when he underestimates the bold Kaiulani’s determination to seek justice for her people – regardless of who is ruling the nation. As Kaiulani manages to secure the right to vote for the Kanaka, Thurston is humiliated in one final defeat.
Pepper explained, “My character in this movie, Lorrin Thurston, represented the European mindset of the time and I thought that was something that needed to be portrayed honestly. In modern times, he could be viewed as racist or prejudiced, but at the time, that was just the mindset. He was a very interesting man in the sense that he was very passionate about Hawaii, he loved the Sandwich Islands, but he was also a businessman and a landowner and was involved with an annexist organisation who wanted to overthrow the Royal Family. I think part of their motivation was duplicitous – they wanted to have access to trade and to the best relationships available, but the Monarch had its own ideas on how Hawaii would trade and with whom it would trade.”
“When you’re playing a duplicitous and villainous character and you’re re-enacting these historical moments, you have to find the truth in it, regardless of how you feel inside. I think you choose a character based on your own personal sensibilities sometimes. Your personal experiences in life inform why you choose certain characters and how you present them on screen. Lorrin Thurston was the antithesis to my experience and my sensibilities as a man, spiritually and emotionally. I grew up in the South Pacific and travelled through the South
Pacific Islands and spent many years in around the Sandwich Islands. I was married on the big island of Hawaii, so when I read the script and learned the history of what had really taken place there, I thought, here’s a challenge.”
Sanford Dole (Will Patton)
Sanford Dole is the son of an American missionary family who has embraced Hawaiian culture and adopted a native Hawaiian daughter. Eager to witness democratic progress in Hawaii, he initially hears Thurston’s ideas with enthusiasm. While believing his objectives to be correct – for the good of everyone, including the Kanaka – Dole learns too late that Thurston’s methods are extreme and destructive. Tormented by guilt by what has happened in this once peaceful country, Dole displays one final act of courage and redemption when he decides to help the Princess on her mission.
Patton explained, “I think there are political factions in Hawaii, who I’m sure have reason to feel that Sanford Dole, the character I portray, was a corrupt person who was very responsible for taking Hawaii away from the native people. But, I think it was a lot more complicated than that. Sanford Dole was born in Hawaii, he had a Hawaiian daughter whom he adopted. Perhaps people are worried that he comes off too heroic in the movie, but I think he was a person in conflict with himself as I think many of us are. I don’t think anything is black or white.”
“This project interested me because it seemed emblematic of some of the things that are going on in the world today, told from another time in history. I think it’s always easier to look at things after they’ve happened, than at things when they’re happening for us right now. We don’t always see the really bad things that are going on in the world during our own time. It often takes us a while to realise the bad stuff is going on. We realise after the fact.”
“I knew very little about Hawaii before doing this film. I thought it was this place where you went on vacation – a paradise place. I read the script and realized that these people were independent from the United States, they were their own people. The same thing happened in Hawaii as what happened on the mainland – the native people were plundered. They were plundered by greedy people who wanted more and wanted to take their land, which is still happening today and it’s still our biggest problem in the world. I don’t think it’s a political thing, I think it’s a thing about human beings.”
“When you look at what was once a very natural, beautiful place (Honolulu), there are now all these shopping malls, people slathering themselves in suntan oil and doing tours but underneath all that are four sacred rocks in the middle of this nightmare. There are still many sacred places in Hawaii but many of them are being turned into golf courses. I guess the script opened my eyes, it enlightened me. I didn’t even know there’d been a monarchy in Hawaii. We filmed in the palace which was mind-boggling – it’s like you’re in England.”
“The princess is a symbol of innocence, a beautiful thing that hasn’t been corrupted yet and that is basically Hawaii. The native people and the native American Indians on the mainland had a more natural way of living – a world that wasn’t concerned with who could get the most ice cream and who could have the biggest house.”
The Making of Princess Kaiulani
This largely-forgotten story of Princess Kaiulani, the half-Hawaiian, half-Scottish princess is about to reach a new international audience through an international co-production. The film tracks the exploits of this exotic and beautiful princess on her travels around the world, including her relocation to England and visit to Scotland in 1888.
Writer/director/producer, Marc Forby has his Hawaiian-raised wife, Leilani, to thank for the idea. "My wife grew up in Hawaii and I was very aware of the overthrow. I saw a picture of the princess in the book store at ‘Iolani Palace, the home of the last monarch, Queen Liliuokalani, and it inspired me to carry out some research. There was something about her eyes that was very haunting. She symbolizes her nation and it occurred to me that she was the cinematic way to tell this great untold American story of the overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy by the United States."
Kaiulani's personal story unfolds against the historical backdrop of the annexation of Hawaii by the United States, which was motivated by a familiar mix of colonial ambitions and commercial interests.
“I was born and raised in Britain but I’m an American citizen, so I do consider myself American as well,” says Forby. “But, having a British upbringing, I can identify with the history of Hawaii because there was a great allegiance between the British and the Hawaiians for over a century. I think the British understand the monarchy in a different way to how Americans do.”
Forby started writing the script in January 2004 and repeatedly flew to O’ahu and carried out extensive research. “My initial research involved books but books are through the lens of the author, so I went to the State archives in the Bishop Museum, where you have direct access to the letters written by all of the key players including the Princess and the Queen. It was a marvelous experience – you ask for one month’s letters and you get this great thick pile of paper with the original envelopes that they ran their fingers through! It gives you a really intimate connection to the people. Forby also worked with many advisers in Hawaii, “I dealt with linguistic experts, historical experts, cultural experts – in Hawaii, if you reach out, you get a lot of support.”
The research and initial draft took around two years, then Forby approached UK producer Nigel Thomas and his company, Matador Pictures, to come on board and help produce the project. Subsequently, they teamed with Island Film Group, a Honolulu based film production and financing company, and preparation began in earnest. That process took another two years, so from conception to cameras rolling took four years in total. “There’s a great love for Hawaii around the world,” comments Forby. “I do feel there’ll be a lot of international appeal with this story. I think a lot of people will be really surprised to learn that the Hawaiian people didn’t want to be annexed, so there’ll definitely be some shock value there. It’s not just about criticizing America, British history is filled with colonialism and many nations have had it. It’s really about acknowledging who we are and how we are today and the bigger issue really is giving the Hawaiian people recognition for who they are. I think the single most important thing this film is going to accomplish, is to show the world that the Hawaiian people had real culture, real history and undo a lot of the damage this Tiki Bar culture has done over the years.”
The Look, the Feel and the Locations
Set against the dramatic island backdrop of Hawaii, the film is a breathtaking romance about an unlikely heroine and her unwavering fight to defend the independence of her people. In 1888, Hawaii was a kingdom on the verge of civil unrest. Forced to flee to England in the reign of Queen Victoria, Princess Kaiulani quickly had to adapt to a new life. The landscape of this epic period piece moves between the very starkly different look of colonial Honolulu and Victorian England.
The Hawaiian leg of the shoot included exclusive first-time access to shoot interiors of Honolulu’s ‘Iolani Palace, home to the Hawaiian monarchy. Filmed in nearly every region of the island, Princess Kaiulani was able to recreate the authentic feel of the time period using original residences of the monarchy, as well as contemporary locales dressed to mimic the era.
For actor Barry Pepper, who plays Lorrin Thurston, filming in the ‘Iolani Palace was an amazing experience. He explains, “We were filming in the palace one hundred and twenty years since these events happened and with a largely Hawaiian crew. This was a very dear and passionate story for them, so we all felt that energy and each day you felt a responsibility to make sure you got the story right. We felt a strong spiritual sense that there was something much deeper at work.”
Working in such a beautiful place was also a highlight for Pepper. “One of the things I enjoy most about my career is that you get to travel to these exotic places. I’d never experienced O‘ahu before. Getting up onto the North Shore and seeing the big waves was just beautiful, I’d love to live there. Plus all the people I met and worked with, that made it special. This film was a wonderful experience for me and my family. I also enjoyed it when we wrapped – I’d tear my wool suit off and dive into the sea! The suits were so claustrophobic – all those high collars, three-piece wool suits, Windsor knots and top hats. I can’t fathom what it must have been like to live in high society in the tropics!”
The primary location in England was Holkham Hall and its surrounding estate which spans 25,000 acres. Permission was granted to utilize several rooms in the hall over a nine-day filming schedule. The production selected the location because of the production incentives offered by regional UK film agency Screen East and also used local beaches and based cast and crew in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk.
Holkham Hall, home of the Coke family, was built between 1734 and 1764 by Thomas Coke, the first Earl of Leicester. The Coke family has lived at Holkham Hall since 1609 when founder of the family fortune Sir Edward Coke purchased the manor. Thomas Coke returned from his 6 year-long grand tour of Europe and employed architect Matthew Brettingham to oversee the work of interpreting designs of the house drawn up by William Kent, protégé of Lord Burlington, whom Thomas had met in Rome. The Palladian style mansion reflects Thomas Coke’s appreciation of classical art. The foundations were dug in 1734 and the house was completed thirty years later, but sadly Thomas Coke died in 1759 before his dream was realized. Today, Viscount Coke and his family reside at the hall, it is not a museum and is closed to the public during the winter months. Its library, statues, paintings and furniture are a major source for academic research to this day.
A chance meeting between writer/director Marc Forby and cinematographer, Gabriel Beristain, brought about several creative coincidences which eventually led to the two working together on Princess Kaiulani, Beristain takes up the story. “I met Marc in Los Angeles. I was about to start a film over there and needed to do some camera tests. My gaffer, Danny Eccleston, was working on a film that Marc was producing at the time and he very kindly allowed me to borrow Danny, the grip and some technicians from his film. I was really grateful to Marc. I thanked him for the favour and we got talking about his next project, Princess Kaiulani. He was very excited about directing it and we started talking about photography, visual ideas and concepts, not necessarily for the film, but just in general. We started to develop a natural relationship based on creative coincidences. One time, he came with books about Sargent’s paintings and that was interesting because my wife at the time was a photographer and she was doing a project based on his paintings. Marc was very passionate about his project and I thought it sounded phenomenal – the story is just wonderful and the way Marc was giving himself to it was so inspiring, so when he offered me the opportunity to photograph it, I jumped at the chance. I thought, ‘What an amazing man, what an amazing woman, what an amazing story, what an amazing country and what an amazing situation!’ I love history and think it’s very important to re-visit it as often as we can. It was Marc’s passion at the end of the day that really brought me to the project.”
Cast Biographies
Q’orianka Kilcher
Kilcher was born in Schweigmatt, Germany. She is of Swiss, Peruvian, French , Spanish, German, Quechua and Huachipaeri. Her name means "Golden Eagle.” In the Quechua an indigenous language of peru with currently more than 7 million speakers. Quechua was the official Language of the Inka empire.
Q'orianka has 2 brothers Kainoa Kilcher and Xihuaru Kilcher
Her father is a Peruvian artist of Quechua / Huachipaeri descent. Her mother, Saskia Kilcher, a human-rights activist of Swiss and Alaskan descent.
Kilcher's maternal grandfather was Ray 'Pirate' Genet, a famous Alaskan mountaineer. Her Great Grand Father was late Jule Kilcher, a Swiss Film Maker and famous Swiss pioneer of Alaska who helped write the Alaskan Constitution. She is the cousin of singer Jewel Kilcher
When she was two, her mother moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where her brother, Kainoa, was born. At age 5, inspired by Hawaiian Dance and musical performances, Kilcher started to dream about being in the performing Arts which prompted her to start studying Drama, Voice, Hula, Tahitian dance, West African dance, Hip-Hop, Modern and Ballet.
Performing in over 50 professional dance performances island wide, Kilcher was barely 6 years old, when she was one of the original contestant in Hawaii’s “Keiki-Stars” and featured in several Variety music shows, opening for some of Hawaii’s finest musical acts, in venues such as the historic Hawaiian Theater among others.
In 1997, Kilcher was chosen to be a competitor at the International Tahitian Dance Competitions in San Jose, CA, and was awarded the 1997 Ballet Hawaii's Young Choreographer Award.
Only 7 years old, Kilcher was the first child to study classical voice at the University of Hawaii with Professor Laurence Paxton and subsequently was the featured Soprano Soloist, performing Schubert's Mass in G and Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti with the Waikiki Singers.
In 1999 her mother moved the family to California, where Kilcher started to showcase her talent buskin on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.
At the age of 9, Kilcher was cast as "Choir Who" in Ron Howard's The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. She was the youngest person attending the Hollywood Musicians Institute, where she was given a full scholarship at age 12,studying vocal performance, music theory and songwriting.
At the age of 14, Q’orianka Kilcher emerged into the front ranks of young actors with her portrayal of Pocahontas opposite Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in Terrence Malick’s The New World, an epic film about the dramatic encounter between English and Native American cultures in 1607.
Her performance won her the National Board of Reviews best breakthrough performance of 2006 and the 2006 Alma Award for best Latin American actress in a feature film, as well as numerous nominations and rave reviews.
Q’orianka is not only an award winning actress with high critical acclaim, but also an accomplished Singer Songwriter and committed Human Rights and environmental activist and fearless young force, who has courageously and tirelessly used her voice and privilege of celebrity to speak out for the voiceless and many of today’s most important and relevant issues, while bring the need for universal dignity, compassion and basic human rights to the attention of the international community…
Traveling frequently to speak at youth events, colleges and Universities on issues such as, Environmental sustainability, indigenous peoples rights, corporate accountability, basic human rights and youth and woman’s issues, Q’orianka has been invited as a featured keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at many international conferences and events for organizations such as Amnesty International, the IFG (international Forum on Globalization), Amazon Watch, IFIP (International Funders for Indigenous Peoples) and The United Nations -panel discussions for “Indigenous Peoples: Human Rights, Dignity and Development with Identity, in collaboration with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Q’orianka frequently lends her celebrity, voice and energy as spokesperson, collaborator mentor and supporter to several international and national NGOs and organizations including: Amazon Watch – Global Youth Ambassador, Amnesty International - (Global Youth Ambassador for woman’s Rights), AIDESEP (Honored Speaker and Spokesperson) Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest Federations) RAL (Red Ambiental de Loretana) (Youth Support) The Community School for the Arts foundation (volunteer/spokesperson)Thursdays Child (youth counselor),Turning The Tides ((volunteer/spokesperson), On-Q Initiative / Youth For Truth (Founder) Save Americas Forests (Lobbyist and Spokesperson –Washington DC.), Sacred Lands United (Co-founder and Spokesperson) Bag Lady Bags (founder).
Q’orianka was also the first Native American spokesperson for the American Literacy Campaign and works with the National Endowment of the Arts “Big Read” program, recording several Books Reviews for the “Big Read” Campaign, hoping to inspire young people to explore some of the great literature at hand.
In addition to public activism, Kilcher is a silent advocate for the environment, driving a Honda FCX Clarity, a hydrogen fuel cell zero-emissions vehicle. Kilcher is the first teenager to make her first car a hydrogen fuel cell. She has never pumped a single gallon of gasoline [7].
Kilcher was featured several times in the LA times Business Section in connection with her efforts to call on Occidental Petroleum to clean up and take responsibility for the 35 year old history of contamination in the Rios Corrientes Regions and Achuar territories of Peru, Occidental Petroleum did not only withdraw their operations from the Peruvian Amazon, but are currently in the middle of a Landmark Lawsuit brought on by the Achuar Leaders. Q’orianka was also the first inspiration for James Cameron’s vision in creating the character of “Neytiri” in Avatar.
Kilcher is a cast member of the Starring-Ensemble for the first "The People Speak" Film Series, which premiered on the History Channel on Dez.13th 2009 (Starring Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, David Straithern, Marisa Tomei, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, Michael Ealy and Kerry Washington. She was also one of the original cast members, volunteering her time reading Howard Zinn's “The People Speak” at various staged readings open to the community, and is part of Voices advisory board.
In spring 2010 Q’orianka was invited to join PAMS, an organization of Doctors and people in the medical profession who offer free medical services to Peruvian Indigenous Communities. With PAMS support she is planning several medical missions for children in the Peruvian highlands and the Amazon Basin, via her Organization on-Q initiative / Youth4Truth.
In her upcoming film “Princess Ka'iulani”, a film highlighting the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Monarchy and the life story of Hawaii’s most beloved peoples Princess, Princess Kaiulani, Q’orianka stars as the courageous Kaiulani who in her short years was a principled international diplomat for her Hawaiian nation.
Q’orianka has received several national and international Honors and Awards, not only as an actress, but also for her dedication and work in support of basic Human Rights, Environmental Justice and Indigenous Peoples Rights. Some of her awards include the 2009 Young Hollywood Awards “Green Award”, 2007 Brower Youth Award, The Gandhi Awards -Youth Leadership 2006, the 2005 First Americans in the Arts Trustee Award, the 2007 Native Voices Media Warrior Award, the 2008 Olive Branch Activist Award. She also was given a special Honors award in 2006 for being the “Voice of AIDESEP”, offered by the Indigenous Federations of the Peruvian Amazon.
In her free time, Kilcher is an accomplished Singer Songwriter and recently launched her own youth driven human rights and environmental organization “on-Q initiative’‚ heading off campaigns to connect young Hollywood with youth activist leaders and projects from around the world, in support of environmental sustainability, basic Human Rights, corporate accountability and Indigenous peoples rights. Through her production company, “IQ-Films”, Q’orianka Kilcher is currently producing several cause driven documentaries and youth-programming projects.
Barry Pepper
In just a few years, Barry Pepper has become one of the most sought after young talents in Hollywood. Pepper gained critical attention for his remarkable portrayal of Private Jackson in the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning feature Saving Private Ryan.
Barry was recently seen in Columbia Pictures Seven Pounds, starring opposite Will Smith. Other upcoming films are Like Dandelion Dust, which premiered at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival. He appeared in Clint Eastwood’s World War II epic, Flags of Our Fathers, for Dreamworks/Warner Bros and Unknown, for The Weinstein Company, starring with Jim Caviezel and Greg Kinnear.
His film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada for Sony Pictures Classics, marked Tommy Lee Jones’ directorial debut and was shown in competition at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The film won two awards at Cannes – Best Actor Award for Tommy Lee Jones and Best Screenplay Award to Guillermo Arriaga. The film made its Gala presentation at the 2005 AFI Film Festival. Barry received a nomination for Best Supporting Male in the 2006 Independent Spirit Awards.
Pepper executive produced and starred in the title role of ESPN’s, 3: The Dale Earnhardt Story, a biopic of the NASCAR star who died in a crash during the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. He was a nominee for the 11th Annual SAG Awards for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries.
Barry also executive produced and starred in The Snow Walker, a gripping epic of love and the struggle for survival in the hauntingly beautiful Canadian arctic. The film was shown at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival and Vancouver Film Festival. Barry received a Best Actor nomination for the 24th Annual Genie Awards in Canada as well as eight other nominations for the film. The film also garnered six awards, including Best Actor, for the Sixth Annual Leo Awards which celebrates excellence in British Columbia Film and Television and made the film festival circuits
Pepper had a starring role in Buena Vista Films 25th Hour, for director Spike Lee. Written by David Benioff, 25th Hour depicts the last day of freedom for a young man (Edward Norton) before he begins serving a seven-year jail term for drug dealing, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rosario Dawson.
Pepper was seen starring in the critically acclaimed Paramount Pictures, We Were Soldiers, for director Randall Wallace. Pepper starred opposite Mel Gibson and Madeleine Stowe in this true story based on the 1965 battle between the United States and Viet Cong force.
Barry was also seen starring in the New Line feature Knockaround Guys, opposite John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper and Vin Diesel.
As well as the big screen, Pepper also shined on the small screen. His starring role in the HBO feature “61*” earned him nominations for a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Critic’s Choice Award. The film tells the story behind the competition between the New York Yankees’ Roger Maris (Pepper) and Mickey Mantle (Thomas Jane) to break Babe Ruth’s single season homerun record in 1961.
Pepper‘s other feature credits include the Academy Award winning feature The Green Mile, with Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke-Duncan and the Bruckheimer/Scott thriller, Enemy of the State, with Will Smith and Gene Hackman.
Pepper grew up on the West Coast of Canada in a very unconventional style. At the age of five, his family launched a 50 ft. sailboat, which they hand-built in a barn behind their home. Christened the “Moonlighter,” she would become their home for the next five years, throughout an incredibly adventurous voyage throughout the Islands of the South Pacific. Like the early explorers before them, they used a sextant and celestial navigation to find places like Figi, Tahiti, Hawai’i, and the Marquesa Islands. Pepper was educated by his parents through correspondence courses and was enrolled in public school whenever possible, in such places as Raratonga and New Zealand. The Polynesian people Pepper met on the remote Islands were expressive through storytelling, dance and music. These formative years developed his love of performance and, with no television and confined to a sailboat for month long crossings between countries, Barry intensely nurtured his imagination and creativity skills.
The Peppers returned to Canada where they built a farm on a small Island off the West Coast. The town was very eclectic – a community made up of farmers, hippies, poets, painters and musicians. He discovered his acting passion through his involvement in the Vancouver Actors Studio.
Will Patton
Will Patton has worked extensively in the theatre and in film. He recently completed principal photography on Antoine Fuqua’s feature Brooklyn’s Finest and The Fourth Kind and he was seen starring with Angelina Jolie in Michael Winterbottom’s critically acclaimed A Mighty Heart and most recently in Wendy and Lucy, with Michelle Williams, which was on many Top Ten Films of 2008 lists.
His films awaiting release in 2009 include American Violet, with Alfre Woodard, Waking Masdion, with Elizabeth Shue, and The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, written by Tennessee Williams. He also starred with John Travolta and Thomas Jane in the Lions Gate feature based on Marvel Comics’ The Punisher. Mr. Patton’s other memorable roles include such features as The Mothman Prophecies, Remember the Titans, Armageddon, Gone In 60 Seconds, Entrapment and The Postman as well as Trixie, Breakfast Of Champions and Jesus’s Son. Will was directed by Martin Scorsese in After Hours and Nicholas Roeg in Cold Heaven. He has starred in several independent films that have enjoyed success at the major film festivals. Some of them include The Rapture, In The Soup, The Paint Job, Toll Booth and The Spitfire Grill, which won the Audience Award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival. In 1998, Will won the award for Best Actor at the Newport International Film Festival for his work in OK Garage (aka All Revved Up). Will has blended appearances in these smaller pictures with major studio releases such as Inventing The Abbotts, The Client, Fled, Copycat, Desperately Seeking Susan, A Shock To The System, Everybody Wins and No Way Out. Will also starred for two seasons in the highly acclaimed television series, “The Agency” on CBS. He was seen in Steven Spielberg’s, “Into The West” on TNT and recurs as Detective Walker on CBS’s “Numb3rs”. Will has recorded over forty-five audio books including nineteen titles by James Lee Burke, the 50th Anniversary release of Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road,” Denis Johnson’s “Tree Of Smoke,” Al Gore’s “The Assault On Reason,” and Charles Frazier’s “Thirteen Moons.” He has also been the recipient of the Audie award for Best Male Narrator. No stranger to the theatre, Will played the leading role in Sam Shepard’s A Lie Of The Mind and his performances in Richard Foreman’s What Did He See. Mr. Shepard’s Fool For Love earned him two prestigious Obie Awards as Best Actor. He starred in the world premier of Don DeLillo’s play, Valparaiso at the ART in Boston and he was also seen heading an ensemble cast in Denis Johnson’s play, Shoppers Carried By Escalators Into The Flames at the Vineyard Theatre in New York.
Shaun Evans
Born in Liverpool, England and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Shaun Evans graduated in 2001. His first major feature film role was opposite Annette Bening in Istvan Szabo’s Being Julia. Other notable credits include John Irvin’s The Boys From County Clare, Cashback, The Situation, Working Title’s Gone, Sparkle and the RTS-nominated Boy A. Most recently, he took on roles in Nick Moran’s Telstar and Dread opposite Jackson Rathbone from Twilight.
Television drama credits include the award-winning Ashes to Ashes, Gently’s Last Case, The Virgin Queen, Murder City, The Project, Teachers II, Blue Dove, Sam’s Game and theatre roles have included Blue/Orange directed by Kathy Burke.
Jimmy Yuill
Originally hailing from Golspie in the far north of Scotland, he went on to become a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and then later of the Renaissance Theatre Company. He has appeared in many of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films, most recently as Corin in the 2006 As You Like It. Yuill was also the music score composer for A Midwinter's Tale and Swan Song. He is possibly best known for the character Doug Kersey in the British television show Wycliffe. The bulk of his acting work has been in the theatre although he has played a handful of police officers on television. In June 2006, he made his first appearance in EastEnders as the recurring character Victor Brown. In October 2007, Yuill took the lead in Sophocles' Antigone as Creon, King of Thebes at The Tron Theatre, Glasgow.
Filmmaker Biographies
Marc Forby
Writer/Director/Producer
Born in England and based in Los Angeles, Marc Forby fell in love with films at the age of sixteen after seeing Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue at a local art house theatre in Bristol. Inspired to direct, he purchased his first 16mm camera and started making documentary films at boarding school. During this time, Marc studied acting and earned a Gold Medal at the acclaimed London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. Marc subsequently moved to Toronto, Canada where he earned a B.A. in Film Studies at Queen’s University and was promptly hired by the prestigious Alliance Communications whose credits include Naked Lunch, Crash, Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter. Marc was eventually assigned to produce and sell features for television such as Second Skin, starring Peter Fonda and Natasha Henstridge and Joan of Arc, starring LeeLee Sobieski, which he sold to Artisan Entertainment. Marc left Alliance in 2002 to write a period epic about Hawaii’s fallen monarchy, that he financed by producing Prom Night, for Screen Gems. In 2005 his dream came true when ex-collaborator and producer, Nigel Thomas (The Wind That Shakes the Barley), agreed to take on Marc’s directing debut, Princess Kaiulani, the true story of Hawaii’s last Princess.
Roy Tjioe
Producer
Roy Tjioe has roots in Hong Kong and Indonesia, and he attended Millfield School in Somerset, England, but he has called Hawaii home since 1980. At the William S. Richardson School of Law, he was Comments Editor for the Law Review, and he received the American Jurisprudence Award for Negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution and the Bernard Levinson Memorial Award for outstanding essay on Constitutional Law. Roy was a successful litigation attorney at Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel from 1988 and was a partner from 1996 until his departure in 2007. From 2002, he led Goodsill’s Entertainment Law Group, where he represented local, national and international film and television producers, including Twentieth Century Fox, ABC/Touchstone/Disney and Warner Bros. as well as independent filmmakers. He has lectured at the University of Hawai‘i's Pacific New Media and the Academy of Creative Media on entertainment law.
In addition to his legal background, Roy is an aspiring screenwriter [3rd Place (Drama), American Accolades Screenwriting Competition; quarterfinalist, CineStory Screenwriting Awards], and has acted in numerous local stage and independent film productions (his recent Chinese language film “Dao” won a Special Jury Award at the Hawaii International Film Festival). His artwork has been featured on the covers of the Hawai‘i Bar Journal and he also works as a professional storyboard artist.
Nigel Thomas
Producer
In a 15 year career, Nigel Thomas has produced, co-produced or executive produced over 40 cinema and television films which have earned over 100 awards, nominations and festival selections. In 1999, he founded Matador Pictures and has overseen its development into one of the UK‘s leading independent feature film production and financing companies. He is a member of BAFTA and the European Film Academy and is an invited guest speaker at a number of international industry events.
Ric Galindez
Producer
Ricardo Galindez attended both undergraduate and law school at the University of Washington. He was general counsel for Interlinq Software Corporation, a publicly traded software development company in Seattle, before moving to Hawai’i in 2001 to join Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel, Hawai’i’s oldest and largest full service law firm. He played a major role as a partner in the Entertainment Law Group, where he honed his corporate structuring and financing skills while representing studio clients such as Twentieth Century Fox, ABC/Touchstone/Disney and Warner Bros. as well as independent filmmakers. Ric has garnered a strong reputation in the area of film financing and is regarded as an expert in Act 221/215 and Act 88 for film and television projects. He has also lectured at the University of Hawaii’s Academy of Creative Media on entertainment law.
Lauri Apelian
Producer
A former partner with Matador Pictures, Lauri Apelian is an established feature film producer based in Los Angeles. In addition to working on the Clive Barker franchise, she served as a producer on the feature film, Princess Kaiulani, earlier this year. She began her career as a literary agent representing clients such as Wolfgang Petersen and double Palme d'Or winning Bille August. In addition, she co-founded Threshold Entertainment with Larry Kasanoff, where her producing credits included the blockbuster hit Mortal Kombat. A well- known figure in the Los Angeles film community, she is a member of the Producers' Guild of America, IFP-West and BAFTA-LA. She is an invited guest speaker at classes and events organized by the American Film Institute and UCLA.
