Research Guides: Streaming Hawaiʻi Videos: Documentaries

Streaming documentaries in Databases

Many Hawaiʻi-related titles are available to stream in the databases below. Ethnographic Videos Online contains a number of very popular videos like Act of War and those from Nā Maka o ʻĀina and much more.

Ethnographic Video Online: Volume III, Indigenous Voices
Ethnographic Video Online is a comprehensive online resource for the study of human culture, behavior and society around the world. The collections contain over 1,300 hours of streaming video, including ethnographic films, documentaries, select feature films, and previously unpublished fieldwork. It's also a resource for a study of the discipline itself: By placing examples of traditional ethnographic methodologies alongside indigenous-made films representing previously overlooked perspectives, scholars, teachers and students of anthropology can gain a sense of the discipline's history and of its future direction.
Kanopy Streaming Video
Kanopy is a "Netflix-like" video platform for college campuses. UH-Manoa licenses select videos from the platform for course reserves. Covering many topics, featured producers in Kanopy's collection include Criterion Collection, PBS, HBO, The Great Courses, California Newsreel, Kino Lorber, Media Education Foundation, First Run Features, BBC, New Day Films.

Streaming documentaries in OneSearch

The Hawaiian Collection purchases streaming licenses of documentaries related to Hawaiʻi. To browse these titles, go to OneSearch and do the following advanced search.

Under Search for, select "UHM Library"
In Subject contains, write documentary films Hawaii
Under Material type, select "Video/Film"
Under Availability, select "Available Online"

Below are a sample of titles we license to stream.

100 Tikis by Dan Taulapapa McMullin
Publication Date: 2016
"100 Tikis is an appropriation art piece that interrogates Western (and Eastern) colonialism of the Pacific Islands peoples from Hawaii to West Papua, through an examination of tiki kitsch, tourism, militarism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism and the genocide of indigenous peoples."
American Aloha: Hula Beyond Hawaiʻi by Lisette Marie Flanary
Publication Date: 2003
"Explores the art of hula as it lives and thrives on the mainland United States. The film focuses on three kumu hula, or master hula teachers, who continue to perpetuate the Hawaiian culture through the teaching of music, language, and dance in California. Using their individual styles of hula, ranging from traditional to contemporary, these kumu have put their heart and soul into creating an opportunity for people living on these distant shores to connect with their heritage and home in Hawai‘i."
Cane Fire by Anthony Banua-Simon
Publication Date: 2020
"Examines the past and present of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, interweaving four generations of family history, numerous Hollywood productions, and troves of found footage to create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as "extras" in their own story."
E Haku Inoa: To Weave a Name by Christen Hepuakoa Marquez
Publication Date: 2013
"The film touches upon how women and families can find themselves caught up in the child welfare system that does not always have proper cultural training and can cause unintentional damage through separation of families.The film also illustrates connections between the cultural suppression of indigenous people and the mental and social repercussions that still resonate through subsequent generations."
The Island Murder by Mark Zwonitzer
Publication Date: 2005
"Discover the truth behind the scandalous 1930s rape and murder case involving a Navy wife, her society mother, Clarence Darrow and five nonwhite Hawaiians that shook the island paradise and exposed the racial tensions roiling beneath the surface."
Kū Kanaka Stand Tall by Marlene Booth
Publication Date: 2017
"Examines recovery from trauma for a Native Hawaiian man and his people. When 15 year old Kanalu Young takes a dive into shallow water he becomes quadriplegic. Angry and defiant through months of rehabilitation, he begins to change when he learns Hawaiian language and discovers an untold story of Hawaiian history."
The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific by Sanford Low
Call Number: 1983
"Explores the ancient navigational heritage of the Pacific people. Mau Piailug, the last navigator to be ceremonially initiated on Satawal and one of the few men who still practice the once-essential art of navigation, is interviewed. In a dramatic demonstration, Mau Piailug sails the Hokule'a, a replica of an original Polynesian canoe, from Hawai'i to Tahiti, using traditional navigation techniques."
No Room in Paradise by Green Island Films
Publication Date: 2017
"No Room in Paradise is an intimate and moving portrait of life on the streets of Honolulu - home to the worst homeless crisis in America. The film follows two homeless families for more than a year as they struggle from sidewalk tents to subsidized housing, allowing them to tell their own stories of how and why they became homeless. Along the way we learn the impact of addiction and mental illness, the huge cost of maintaining the status quo and what can be done to fix it."
Nā Kamalei: The Men of Hula by Lisette Marie Flanary
Publication Date: 2006
"Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula captures the journey of legendary master teacher Robert Cazimero and the only all-male hula school in Hawai’i as they prepare to compete at the world’s largest hula festival. Beyond deep-rooted stereotypes of ‘grass-skirt girls’, the film tells a story of Hawaiian pride as the men celebrate their 30th anniversary in continuing the revival of men dancing hula."
Out of State by Ciara Lacy
Publication Date: 2017
"Story of outcasts, of native Hawaiian prisoners shipped 3,000 miles across the ocean to a for-profit prison in the desert of Arizona. In this unlikely setting, these men discover their fierce indigenous dances, inspiring two students to fight to turn their lives around upon release."
Patsy Mink: Ahead of the Majority by Kimberlee Bassford
Publication Date: 2008
"In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the US presidency and was the driving force behind Title IX, the landmark legislation that transformed women’s opportunities in higher education and athletics."
Railroading Paradise by Green Island Films
Publication Date: 2014
"Railroading Paradise chronicles the biggest development battle in Hawaii's history against the backdrop of a bitter mayoral election and a controversial $8 billion elevated rail project. Based on interviews with top politicians, national planning experts and environmental leaders, the film confronts the question: can anything be done to protect the beauty of the last undeveloped places on Oahu - or is the island doomed to be swamped by the pressures of a growing population and booming tourist industry?"

Physical documentaries on DVD or VHS

We also have many documentaries that are only available on DVD or VHS. You can browse them by doing the following search.

Go to OneSearch and do the following advanced search.

Under Search for, select "UHM Library"
In Subject contains, write documentary films Hawaii
Under Material type, select "Video/Film"
Under Availability, select "Held by library"

If you are UHM faculty and would like to request to make a physical video of ours streaming for your class, please visit the webpage Course Reserves Media/Streaming Reserves Info. Note these requests need to be submitted two months before the beginning of the semester.

Below are a sample of titles we have only in a physical format of VHS or DVD.

Noho Hewa by Anne Keala Kelly
Call Number: UH Mānoa Hamilton Library AV Center DVD 7628
Publication Date: 2009
UHM instructors can request streamed viewing for courses. Certain policies apply for this video.
"In the Hawaiian language, hewa means “wrong” and noho means “to occupy”. This documentary is a contemporary look at Hawaiian people, politics and resistance in the face of their systematic erasure under U.S. laws, economy, militarism, and real estate speculation. It is a raw, unscripted story that makes critical links between seemingly unrelated industries, and is told from the perspective of Hawaiians."
Voices of Our Kūpuna by Hula Preservation Society
Call Number: UH Mānoa Hamilton Library AV Center DVD 10907
Publication Date: 2011
"Voices of our kūpuna is an enriching experience for the eyes, ears, and heart. This live program was presented by HPS in July 2005 on the island of Maui, and it features three beloved kūpuna Kumu Hula - Auntie Nona Beamer, Uncle George Naope, and Auntie Kahili Long Cummings - all of whom have spent their entire lives immersed in hula and music, educating countless people around the world about their beloved Hawaiian culture."

Students and Faculty

If you need access to a Hawaiʻi-related documentary for a class, please submit an "Ask Us" request.