The Fishing Club

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One of Hawai'i's last pristine shorelines is about to be turned into a large resort. A group of close friends, who call themselves "The Fishing Club," have always considered this to be "their beach" and hatch a plan to stop the development. A serious story with a sense of humor, The Fishing Club is based on a "what if" idea. What if a small group of people with a connection to the land could stop the construction - how would they do it? Each member of The Fishing Club connects with the land in different ways, some spiritual, some ancestral. When they bring these forces into play, events start to spin out of control. As people start to lose their jobs, the members of the club, and even the developers have to question their own plans and motives. How do you do the right thing? Written by Hawai'i Island author Catherine Tarleton in the 1990s, The Fishing Club is based on the development that happened around the Kohala coast at that time, though its themes, and the questions it brings up, are alive and well today. Tarleton's story won honorable mention in Honolulu Magazine's Fiction Contest, and went on to be published in her book Potluck: Stories That Taste Like Hawai'i. Dana Hankins wanted to include the story in her series Tradewinds, a group of four short films about Hawai'i. As a producer, Hankins has a long list of Hollywood and independent film credits, including the recent feature Under The Blood Red Sun. She showed the story to director David Rosen, with whom she had worked on several commercial projects. David loved the characters and the drama of their conflicts, and jumped at the idea despite the many production challenges that the project entailed. As Hankins and Rosen talked about who would play the lead roles, two people stood out. Hawai'i TV sports anchor Robert Kekaula played a role in the TV series Byrds of Paradise, and is a very instinctive actor. He plays the role of Ronald, and his ancestral connections to the land force the events of the film. Keali'i Reichel, known as an award-winning musical artist and kumu hula, had never acted before. He plays the role of Kalani, who has a spiritual connection to the land and comes up with the initial idea, but has reservations about what they're doing. Along with Kekaula and Reichel, the cast includes many great local actors from Hawai'i that help bring the story to life. The story was filmed in the caves, back roads, farms, forests, and streams of O'Oahu, and the climactic scene happens on the beach at Kawela Bay. But it could have happened on any island in Hawai'i, and its themes resonate in many places - not just here, but around the world.