At 11, Keisha Castle-Hughes moved the world with her powerful performance in the low-budget hit Whale Rider, earning a best-actress Oscar nominationin the process. Now 15, Castle-Hughes was in town from New Zealand to promote Public Television’s broadcast of Whale Rider last Sunday. We asked another teenager, 17-year-old Punahou junior Alan Jackson, to interview Castle-Hughes–kid to kid. Without much prompting from us, Jackson turned out an impressive interview. Sitting in room with the two articulate youths made us wonder what took us so long to grow up. Post-interview, we asked Jackson what he wants to do when he grows up. His response? ‘This journalism thing is looking pretty good.’
–Kawehi Haug

Why the interest in sharing Whale Rider with the public again?
I was brought over by Pacific Islanders in Communication. They asked the Girls Scouts to cooperate with them because it’s such an empowering film for girls. And this is the first time the film will play on national television in the States and so I thought it’d be cool to come over and support it. And because it’s a great story and Pacific Island stories need to be told. This is a great example of that.

When you did Whale Rider, were you already aware of the Maori cultural issues in the film?
Yes. But I think doing the film made me want to grasp them more. We lost the culture, like many other indigenous cultures did. My nationality was always a keep-it-to-myself kind of thing, but now I say I’m Maori proudly. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of. We’re supposed to be a lower class because of our race, and you’d think that in the 21st century things would be better and it wouldn’t be as racist, but all over the world it still is.

So it’s not so much a problem of ancestry and succession, as in the movie, but cultural diffusion through Western influences.
Yeah, it is. With so many Western influences, we try to be Western and we’re not. With many cultures–even the Hawaiian culture–there’s this huge comeback and it’s good. We can all live in unity. Why not?

Were the Whale Rider whales real?
They were made of fiberglass and rubber. We couldn’t afford technical stuff, so we had men inside the whales who moved them and used syringes to blow the water out of the blowholes. They were the real people of that village and it’s really their belief that a man came on a whale to discover the land and they’ve got a huge connection with it. When they were looking after those whales on the beach they treated them as if they were the real thing.

Where do you see your career going from here?
I haven’t decided. It’s kind of weird with a decision like this. When I was 7 all I wanted to do was be an actress. When you’re given such an opportunity, you take it. It was handed to me on a gold platter and I weigh it up everyday and think: Should I do this or should I not? It’s not the easiest decision in the world–it’s life-changing. I just want to be a teen-aged girl and go shopping and hang out with my friends and so, I still don’t know. I’d love to be a teacher.

How was doing Star Wars?
It was cool. It was one day at Fox studios in Sydney. It was exciting and it was a good taste–going from doing a film in New Zealand where everyone’s like big family and we use all the resources we can, to a film with a $4 billion budget. Even though it was only one day, it was all I needed.

Having done that one day, do you want to do more?
Yeah, I do, but I don’t really want to make films that have no meaning. People used to go to the movies to cry in the dark and to laugh in the dark. Now, we go because it’s only seven bucks and we’re bored and there’s nothing better to do. I want to do films like Whale Rider that have meaning. It’s such a small little film from a small little country and people are still talking about it

Mother tongues

Language of the Land brings Pacific writers to town

Bamboo Ridge, Hawaii Review, Manoa, ‘Oiwi, Tinfish–as our literary journals attest, there’s a lot of writing going on in Hawai’i. And Honolulu is breaking out of its insular literary scene to become something of a Pacific-lit hub. Last fall, New Zealand novelist Witi Ihimaera was in town for the University of Hawai’i’s Moving Islands writers’ festival, which focused on Oceanic and Caribbean authors. And Samoan writer Albert Wendt now holds the prestigious Citizen’s Chair in English at UH.

Next week, the Pacific Writers’ Connection, a collective founded in 2001, holds its second Language of the Land program to promote writers who focus on nature, culture and place. The theme–water, land and values–might sound all too familiar, but the event promises to introduce notable new work to Honolulu.

The program features Hawai’i’s Ku’ualoha Ho’omanawanui, Aboriginal writer Larissa Behrendt, Australian nature writer Mark Tredinnick, Oregon-based nature writer Kim Stafford and American Indian novelist Debra Magpie Earling.

Is Pacific writing a genre? ‘Yes, it is–it’s a new genre,’ says PWC executive director Takiora Ingram, ‘because Pacific people have oral traditions. But a growing number of Pacific indigenous people are taking the Western form of literature and developing their own style. The writing is quite different, it often includes their native languages, and the stories are about their place, culture and environment.’
Behrendt’s debut novel, published last year, is an example of this new genre. Her lyrical work portrays contemporary Aboriginal life in Australia. Holding a law degree from Harvard University, Behrendt tells the tale of a land-rights lawyer and her Aboriginal grandmother, who was ’stolen,’ a family history that Behrendt shares.

Part of PWC’s mission is to take writers to isolated communities, and Language of the Land will move to Hana, Maui, Aug. 4-6.
Lesa Griffith