SCREENING & DISCUSSION | KULEANA with co-producer Sasha Fairhead

Audience members joined us for screening of the film KULEANA. KULEANA is a documentary that brings together science, sports, and stewardship to inspire action in protecting Hawaiʻi and the world ocean from plastic debris.

KULEANA examines ocean plastic pollution through science, culture, and community perspectives in Hawaiʻi. The film features oceanographers and marine researchers studying how plastics move through ocean circulation systems and affect marine ecosystems. By highlighting the Hawaiian concept of kuleana, the film emphasizes the shared responsibility to protect the ocean for future generations.

Contributing to the film were several leading oceanographers from SOEST including Jeff Drazen (professor), Jamison Gove (alumni and research affiliate), Nikolai Maximenko (senior researcher), Margaret McManus (director of the Uehiro Center for the Advancement of Oceanography), and Jonathan Whitney (alumni, former postdoctoral researcher, and research affiliate); and a scientist at JABSOM’s Yanagimachi Institute for Biogenesis Research, Rodrigo Weingrill. 

Directed and produced by Georgia Scott, KULEANA is narrated by Woody Harrelson and hosted by former professional baseball player Chris Dickerson, with Sasha Fairhead as co-producer.

Following the screening, co-producer Sasha Fairhead and oceanography experts Jonathan Whitney and Nikolai Maximenko participated in a thoughtful Q&A discussion. Jonathan Whitney is a research ecologist at NOAA in the Ecosystem Sciences Division of the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center. Nikolai Maximenko is a senior research at UH’s International Pacific Research Center. A brown-bag lunch followed on the MSB lanai.

Location: MSB 114

Time: 9:00AM–11:30AM