An Indigenous filmmaker from Hawaii says people of colour and first nations people need stories of hope on the big screen in the wake of Donald Trump's US presidential victory.
Native Hawaiian filmmaker Keoni Lee, who is in Sydney for the Winda Film Festival, a festival of Indigenous films and documentaries from around the world, says Donald Trump's election victory could have a devastating impact on the Polynesian community in Hawaii.
"It's scary, Native Hawaiians don't have treaties with the United States like Native Americans do, so a lot of our entitlement programs at the federal level are at threat with someone like Trump at the helm," Lee said.
Lee, who co-founded ʻŌiwi TV, Hawaii's first Indigenous television network, fears Trump will slash desperately needed funding to a community that struggles with poverty and social issues like homelessness.
"When he says 'make America great again' a lot of us people of colour think what he's really saying is 'make America white again'."
"It's scary. For someone like me working in the community trying to make a good social impact for the Hawaiian community it just makes me inspired to continue to do that."
The United States annexed the Hawaiian islands in 1893 and Native Hawaiians, who are of Polynesian descent, have never ceded their sovereignty over the islands.
"There's a lot of people who are happy to exclude groups of people to 'make America great again'. We have a lot of work to do."
Lee is in Australia for a screening of his documentary Mele Murals.
The film follows a group of "middle-aged graffiti artists" rediscovering their Hawaiian culture and traditions.
"Indigenous people around the world, we're survivors. You look at my film and you see the resiliency of the Hawaiian people to bring back the culture and the songs and the dances and language."
Lee says that being with other Indigenous people in Sydney while Trump clinched victory has inspired him to create more positive stories on screen.
"Storytelling is a part of our culture and our history. We're telling stories, and it's an extension of our culture."
"We'll survive this, we're going to adapt like we always do and we'll survive."
The Winda Film Festival runs until Sunday November 13. You can find screening details here.
