Entertainment

Newly unveiled ‘Perfect Days’ preserves Lahaina memories

Helping preserve residents' memories of Lahaina, four new animated "Perfect Days" short films will be unveiled Thursday, Aug. 27, at the Lahaina Think Space at Queen Kaʻahumanu Center, as part of the ongoing development of a future Lahaina Memorial Project.

Created by award-winning artist Richard O'Connor, the collection features the voices of nine Lahaina storytellers sharing personal memories and the community connections that helped define life in the historic town.

They are former Lahaina Surf Shack instructor Trinity Scanlan, Kyla Nahoʻoikaika, Nayah Smith, Noelle Storer, Kanoelani Kenolio, Hōkū Delatori, Tom Fujita and retired Maui Fire Department Capt. Cornelio Bancaco Jr., as well as Dean Tokishi of the Kahoʻolawe Island Reserve Commission.

"I wanted to share my perspective of what Lahaina was for my grandkids, memories of plantation camps, mango trees and soup kitchens, to preserve our values and resources for the next generation. We must protect our water and our streams; that is our food source," Bancaco Jr. said in a news release.

The films are part of the community storytelling Hui Moʻolelo: Lahaina project, produced by the Maui Public Art Corps in partnership with Hale Hōʻikeʻike at the Bailey House/Maui Historical Society, the County of Maui and the Lahaina Restoration Foundation.

"Several years ago, Kelly White reached out to us just to see if we'd like to do this," explained O'Connor, founder of the Brooklyn-based Ace & Son Moving Picture Company. "This is exactly the kind of work we do that speaks to the human experience and speaks to the diversity and range of life on earth. I think this project is about communal connection and how society and a better life build that connection."

Working with White, chair and founder of Maui Public Art Corps, O'Connor created the films after listening to hours of interviews with various Lahaina residents. After a series of community meetings to "make sure that everybody's feeling the same way, I had further conversations with the participants and their concerns," he said.

Involved in creating animation for around 30 years, O'Connor worked on the movies "The Stepford Wives" and "White Countess." His documentaries include "The Buddha," "Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns," "Chicago Ten," "Nursery University" and the PBS series "Between the Lions."

Since 2016, his company has produced 12 films a year based on oral stories submitted to the nonprofit StoryCorps, which records, preserves and shares the stories of Americans from all backgrounds and beliefs.

Working on the Lahaina project was quite emotional for him. He had previously created a series of short films following the fires. "We did a first round right after the fires with residents and former residents of Lahaina," he said. "That was very difficult because the town was still smoking. The goal was to gather these stories and put them together and discuss the process of recovery and restoration and where they hope to be. There was a kind of a melancholy tone to the whole thing."

The new collection is more upbeat, drawing from stories of plantation-era childhoods, fishing traditions, community-raised families and enduring aloha. "In this round we're a little further out, and we didn't want to be as melancholic," he noted. "We wanted to be contemplative in a way that is happy or positive. So we really focused on people's recollection and hopes for just a great day in their life. Whether it was when you learned to swim or going to the paddling championship or just spending a day at the beach with family. These little moments that are from the past but also are universal."

As part of the Queen Kaʻahumanu exhibit, Maui artist Jana Ireijo of Vanishing Murals will lead an artist-in-residence program during August and September. Ireijo previously created a 60-foot mural at the temporary site of Kaiser Permanente's Lahaina Clinic and plans to create a large ulua mural covered by an ephemeral chalk-and-pastel wave that visitors will gradually reveal through a participatory process.

Maui Public Art Corps will later take the Lahaina Think Space to New York University. "These are also stories which resonate in our lives in Lahaina, but the little elements of them are all our things which are universal that we all want to achieve," said O'Connor. "Next month, we're doing talks with the 9/11 Memorial. I was in New York on 9/11. I went to Lahaina. It was far more devastating, but on a personal scale -- the whole town being disrupted."

The Lahaina Think Space will present the films on individual screens with headphones at Queen Kaʻahumanu Center from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays through Sept. 10.