 Immediately following the Hawai'i Premiere of Maisa the Chamoru Girl who Saves Guåhan Please join us for a post-screening discussion with film director Michael Q. Ceballos, executive producer Rufina Mendiola, lead animator Cherise Takiguchi, lead animator Kai Lono, and screenwriter Brian Watanabe. Panelist bios  Michael Q. Ceballos - Director/Executive Producer Michael is a veteran of the animation industry, with more than 20 years of experience under his belt. Among the many diverse projects he has worked on, there are a few notable highlights. At Nickelodeon, he honed his skills on the cult hit "The Angry Beavers" as lead character designer and supervisor. He also worked with legendary film producer Robert Evans, who produced The Godfather and Chinatown, on his animated biographic show "Kid Notorious" for Comedy Central. In 2005, Mr. Ceballos relocated to Honolulu, where he art directed and co-wrote two RPG educational games for struggling 4th grade readers, entitled "Cosmos Chaos!" for the Nintendo DS system, and also created and produced the award winning "E Ho‘omau!" animated series of films and educational books. In 2013, Mr. Ceballos formed Twiddle Productions in Honolulu where he has directed and produced Ola Na Iwi: Hāloa, and Maisa, the Chamoru Girl who Saves Guahan.  Rufina Mendiola - Executive Producer/Writer Mrs. Mendiola is the current Administrator for the Chamoru Studies & Special Projects Division for the Guam Department of Education. She is also a language expert and educator and has continuously taught the Chamoru Language in the Guam Public School System and at the University of Guam for the past 35 years. Mrs. Mendiola has also previously produced a Documentary DVD under the Fino’ Håya Indigenous Language and is also an author of four books. Most recently she has written a children’s book that was published for the 12th Festival of the Pacific Arts 2016. *Mrs. Mendiola will be joining the Panel Discussion via Skype from Guam  Brian Watanabe-Screenplay Brian Watanabe is the screenwriter of The Rogues Gallery, which went on to become the cult film Operation: Endgame starring Ellen Barkin, Maggie Q and Zach Galifianakis. He's developed scripts for production companies at Fox and Sony. Brian is also an award-winning advertising copywriter living in Hawai‘i.  Cherise Takiguchi- Maisa Lead animator. Cherise is a Hawai‘i-based artist and animator whose work can be seen in many diverse projects such as the Universal Studios 3D Ride "Despicable Me: Minion Mayhem", and the 3D animated Looney Tunes short, "I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat”, “Veggie Tales,” and the Discovery Channel’s “Dinosaur Revolution” Cherise has also taught animation at Kapi‘olani Community College and ‘Iolani School.  Kai Lono- Maisa Animator/Compositor Kai Lono started his career out of high school in animation as a intern on the E Ho‘omau Hawaiian legend animated project. He soon became the background lead and set the background style for E Ho‘omau: The Menehune and The Birds, which screened locally at HIFF and festivals across the country. In addition to his background in animation, Kai is also a musician and illustrator.
0 Comments
We just ran across this article from Joy White who covered the Maisa Launch in December 2015. Check it out its pretty great! :)   SCREENING INFORMATION: Admission: FREE Screening: Saturday, April 30, 2016 | Time: 12:40PM | University Of Guam Fine Arts Theatre Directly following the screening there will be a Question and Answer session followed by a DVD raffle Giveaway. The Q and A Panel will consist of: Rufina Mendiola: Producer/Writer/Head of Chamorro Studies DOE Toni Ramiriez: Cultural Advisor/Writer Myracle Mugol: Director of Live Action Sequence Ronald J. Pereira: Music and Live Action Audio Animation (Family, Youth, Culture) | Guam/Hawaii 2015 | 42 min.
Synopsis: Based on a beloved classic Legend from the island of Guam, ‘Maisa the Chamoru Girl who Saves Guåhan’ tells the story of how a young Chamoru girl finds the strength, wisdom, and courage to lead the women of Guåhan (Guam) into battle against a giant creature from the Marianas trench that is devouring their island home. ‘Maisa’ is the first animated film to feature the endangered indigenous Chamorro language of Guam. For this film cultural and language experts worked diligently on bringing the language back to its historical pre contact era. Official Website: www.twiddleproductions.com Production Crew and Cast CREW: Michael Q. Ceballos, Director/Executive Producer/Art Director/Animator | Ty Robinson, Executive Producer/Editor | Rufina Mendiola, Executive Producer/Writer | Ronald T. Laguaña, Executive Producer/Writer | Jimmy S. Teria, Executive Producer/Writer | Toni Ramirez, Cultural Advisor/Writer | Matthew Kawika Ortiz, Co Art Director/Storyboards/Background Designer | Bryson Watanabe, Screenplay CAST LIVE ACTION: Therese “Ewy” Taitano (Nȧnan Biha) | Maria Taitano Calvo (Maisa) | Zachariah Taitano Calvo (Nåpu) CAST ANIMATION: Kihya Martinez (Maisa) | Vance G.C. Camacho (Maga’lȧhi A’ot) | Vincent San Nicolas (Asinan) | Zina San Nicolas Ruiz (Maga’håga Hesna)  Ola Nā Iwi: Hāloa
“You ask me. Who are you?” This is Exciting! Our short film animated film Ola Nā Iwi: Hāloa was one of the films selected to represent Hawai’i at this years Festival of the Pacific Arts which will be hosted in Guam. The Festival of the Pacific Arts happens every four years and this year will include artists and practitioners from 27 island nations. We were blessed during the creation of Ola Nā Iwi: Hāloa to have collaborated with such an amazing group of people and organizations like The Hawai‘inuiākea School of Hawaiian Knowledge Community Engagement Grant, the Children of Kahaluu Elementary, Kamehameha Schools Visual Art Dept, The Children of Ke Kula ‘o Samuel M. Kamakau LPCS (Laboratory Public Charter School) as well as our artists, animators and voice actors. We are especially excited that once more the amazing voices of Keoni Kuoha, Kaleilehua Maiho and especially the amazing Kumu Hula Leina'ala Heine who chanted the Kumulipo portion of the film will be heard once more at such an important venue. For more info on the production of Haloa check out our link here: http://haloa.twiddleproductions.com/index.html For more info on the Festival of the Pacific Arts go to: https://festpac.visitguam.com  We are excited to announce that Maisa the Chamoru Girl who Saves Guahan will be screening at the University of Guam, Guam International Film Festival 2016 Spring Local Showcase. Once again congratulations to the entire team!  SCREENING INFORMATION:
Admission: FREE Screening: Saturday, April 30, 2016 | Time: 12:40PM | University Of Guam Fine Arts Theatre (Scheduled Q&A immediately following the screening) Animation (Family, Youth, Culture) | Guam/Hawaii 2015 | 42 min. Synopsis: Based on a beloved classic Legend from the island of Guam, ‘Maisa the Chamoru Girl who Saves Guåhan’ tells the story of how a young Chamoru girl finds the strength, wisdom, and courage to lead the women of Guåhan (Guam) into battle against a giant creature from the Marianas trench that is devouring their island home. ‘Maisa’ is the first animated film to feature the endangered indigenous Chamorro language of Guam. For this film cultural and language experts worked diligently on bringing the language back to its historical pre contact era. http://www.guamfilmfestival.org/maisa-the-chamoru-girl-who-saves-guahan/  We are excited to announce the Hawaii Premiere of Maisa! Congratulations to the cast and crew who worked so hard to create this film and a big Mahalo to the Doris Duke Theater for making this event a reality. :)
Check out the info below http://honolulumuseum.org/events/films/15683-maisa Showtimes: Sunday May 29 01:00 PM Location: Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art 900 S Beretania St, Honolulu, HI 96814 This is a free but ticketed event. Please RSVP via the "Purchase Tickets" button above. Based on a Chamoru legend, Maisa tells the story of a girl who finds the strength to lead the women of Guåhan (Guam) into battle against a giant creature.from the Marianas trench that is devouring their island home. This is the first animated film to feature the endangered Chamorro language of Guam. For this film cultural and language experts worked diligently to bring the language back to its historical pre-contact era. The Honolulu production and creative team at Twiddle productions Inc. worked hand in hand with the DOE Chamorro Studies department in Guam as well as cultural and language experts. Bringing an endangered language to life One of the production’s goals was to highlight Chamorro. In 2000, the Spanish Census showed that fewer than 20 percent of Chamorros living in Guam speak their native language fluently and a vast majority were over the age of 55. Working with Chamorro cultural and language experts in Guam, Ceballos and his team removed all the Spanish and English-influenced words for the animated section of the film. See the trailer https://vimeo.com/146631622 |
TwiddleThoughts and Things Archives
May 2020
Categories |
RSS Feed