The MACC presents free community screening of BON-UTA documentary

The Maui Arts & Cultural Center presents a free screening for the Maui community of the documentary, Bon-Uta in the McCoy Studio Theater Sunday, Jan. 28 at 3 p.m. The event is free to the public but pre-registration online only at MauiArts.org is required beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 9.

The film focuses on the connections between Hawai‘i and Fukushima, Japan, and the Japanese immigrants’ history through song and music. The screening will be followed by traditional Japanese drumming by Maui Taiko outside in the McCoy Courtyard.

Noted Japanese film director Yuji Nakae helmed this documentary about the people of Futaba, a town located in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, as they fight to save a generations-old tradition in the wake of 2011’s earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster.

By 2015, with the community scattered and recovering, townspeople began to realize that their beloved “bon uta” would cease to exist unless they took action. A glimmer of hope is seen when they hear the story of Fukushima Ondo, another type of “bon uta” which continues to be enthusiastically performed and preserved through the efforts of Japanese Americans whose ancestors had emigrated from Fukushima to Hawaiʻi over a hundred years ago.

Encouraged by the story, the people of Futaba travel to Maui, Hawaiʻi to see for themselves how a centuries-old tradition has been passed down to the current generation.

This screening is a tie-in with the MACC’s Schaefer International Gallery’s next exhibit, Sense of Place/Place of Sense, opening to the public Tuesday, Jan. 23 and running through March 16. Admission is free and the gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and also prior to select Castle Theater shows.

This ambitious exhibit represents a sizable departure for the gallery, exploring the multi-faceted meaning of community at a critical moment of change for Maui through numerous built environments in the space that showcase five significant themes and issues involving history, water, land, spirituality, and people.

Organizations who have partnered for the project include the University of Hawai‘i Center for Oral History, the Lahaina Restoration Foundation, and the Maui Historical Society.

The MACC will be a collecting donations for the Maui Food Bank the day of the event. Patrons are requested to bring needed items for those impacted by the wildfires. Donation bins will be located near the MACC’s main entry gates.

This is a free admission event but pre-registration is required online only at MauiArts.org. The MACC Box Office is currently not open for window orders but is available for ticketing inquiries only by email (boxoffice@mauiarts.org).

This event is sponsored by the County of Maui and the Office of Economic Development.