• Kama'aina

    Directed by Kimi Howl Lee
    USA | 17 minutes |

A queer sixteen-year-old girl, Mahina, resides in the predominantly Native Hawaiʻian neighborhood of Wai’anae, Oahu. After suffering abuse from her stepfather, Mahina must navigate life on the streets, until she eventually finds refuge at the Pu’uhonua o Wai’anae––Hawaiʻi’s largest organized homeless encampment.

WINNER: Best LGBTQ+ Short

film synopsis

film details

Director: Kimi Howl Lee
Producers: Conor May, Natalé Olsen, Sabina Friedman-Seitz, Anastasia Solovieva
Screenwriter: Kimi Howl Lee
Cinematographers: Scott Ray
Editor: Evita Yuepu Zhou
Music: Michael Alemania
Cast: Malia Kamalani Soon, Twinkle Borge, Sabina Friedman-Seitz
Country: USA
Language: English
Year: 2019
Running Time: 17 minutes
Awards: Best in Native Cinema, Santa Fe Film Fest
Website: https://www.instagram.com/kamaainafilm/

director biography

Kimi Howl Lee is a writer and director from New York City, and is a graduate of Stanford University's Film and Media Studies program. Kimi began her career as a Story Editor curating short-form content for Snapchat Inc., before transitioning full time to filmmaking. Kimi’s feature script, MOUTH, won the grand prize for Best Narrative Feature in the 2015 BlueCat Screenwriting Competition, subsequently landing on the TrackingBoard’s 2015 “Hit-List” of best unproduced scripts. She also wrote and directed SUGAR, a short proof of concept, which had a successful festival run and was a finalist for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab. Kimi was most recently staffed on the Amazon Studios + Blossom Films drama series THE EXPATRIATES, based off the NYTimes best-selling novel. She is currently a story editor on Netflix's LOCKE AND KEY, executive produced by Carlton Cuse and based off of the popular graphic novel. Kimi was a participant in Film Independent’s 2019 Episodic Lab, and Women In Film's Multi-hyphenate mentorship program. She is currently repped by UTA and Kaplan Perrone.

2020 ShortFest Archive