Standing Above the Clouds
When the massive Thirty Meter Telescope is proposed to be built on Mauna Kea, an uprising of kiaʻi (protectors) in Hawaiʻi and around the world dedicate their lives to protecting the sacred mountain from destruction. Through the lens of mothers and daughters in three Native Hawaiʻian families, Standing Above the Clouds explores intergenerational healing and the impacts of safeguarding cultural traditions.
Thank you to our screening partner: Brown Girls Doc Mafia
Directors Spotlight
Jalena Keane-Lee
Director
Jalena Keane-Lee (Director, Cinematographer, Producer) is a filmmaker who explores intergenerational trauma and healing through an intersectional lens. She was named a 2023 Adobe x Sundance Woman to Watch, and is the recipient of the Gotham Documentary Fellowship, Creative Culture woman filmmaker fellowship, Wyncote Fellowship and NeXt Doc Fellowship. Jalena is the winner of Tribeca Through Her Lens 2020 and DocPitch 2022. Her short films have streamed on POV and Criterion Collection, played at over 50 film festivals, and won best short at LA Asian Film Festival in 2020 and the Jury Award at Sundance in 2023. Jalena co-founded Breaktide Productions, an all-women-of-color production company that has won two Cannes Lion awards for branded content. Jalena is currently working on her first feature-length documentary which participated in the 2022 Sundance Edit and Story Lab.
- Runtime
- 83 minutes
- Country
- Hawaiian Kingdom
- Language
- English
- Director
- Jalena Keane-Lee
- Cast
- JALENA KEANE-LEE
- Cinematographer
- JALENA KEANE-LEE
- Composer
- T.J. KEANU TARIO
- Executive Producer
- JESS DEVANEY, ANYA ROUS, RUTH ANN HARNISCH
- Producer
- AMBER ESPINOSA-JONES, ERIN LAU, JALENA KEANE-LEE
- Production Design
- T.J. KEANU TARIO
- Screenwriter
- AMBER ESPINOSA-JONES, ERIN LAU, JALENA KEANE-LEE
- Co Producer
- PUA CASE
- Editor
- DIANA DIROY
- Sound Design
- MICAH GARRIDO
- Premiere
- East Coast