PVCC Puma Press: February 2001 Top Story

When the Hawaiian Islands emerged from the North Pacific Ocean in a mass of volcanic rock, all kinds of exotic plants with bold colors and sweet smells evolved from the land. They were surrounded with coral reefs and sandy beaches that met with the blue, warm water of the Pacific Ocean. The natives cherished this land. They ate from the earth, fished its waters and set up peaceful communities to house a population of over half-a-million people.

Then came the white man. A saga of loss follows the arrival to Hawaii of white missionaries and traders, according to Dr. Elizabeth Lindsey Buyers in her award-winning documentary film Then There Were None.

Today, that same volcanic rock is filled with tourists, automobiles and buildings. When missionaries came to the islands in the 1700s, they condemned Hawaiian traditions, such as the hula dance, for being pagan, Lindsey Buyers reports. Their wealthy descendants bought up most of the land and profited from exporting Hawaii's sugar. The foreign guests brought chicken pox and measles from which the islanders had no immunity. These illnesses wiped out more than half of their population.

According to Lindsey Buyers' film, sociologists have projected that by 2044 there will not be a single full-blooded Hawaiian left in Hawaii.

The New Horizons Film Festival will examine these issues when Lindsey Buyers visits PVCC in March. Her award-winning short documentary, Then There Were None, will be presented on March 29 at 6:30 in Building M, Room 112. Following the film, Lindsey Buyers will lead a discussion and also answer questions.

Fueled by her passion for this issue, Lindsey Buyers composed the first draft of the script for her award-winning film in only one night. On film, with a gentle voice, she tells the tragic story of the people of Hawaii, spanning 247 years, beginning in 1778, when the missionaries first arrived on the islands. Later, Lindsey Buyers explains, the descendants of the missionaries who came to be wealthy landowners and part of the political elite assisted the United States in a coup to force the monarchy from power in 1893. Since then, Native Hawaiians have had their land taken away, their religion and traditions inhibited and their children beaten in school for speaking in their native tongue.

While tourists flock to the Hawaiian Islands to enjoy its tropical beauty, the truth about the islands' history is rarely discussed. Magnum, P.I., Hawaii 5-0, Baywatch Hawaii;these are the images Hollywood feeds to the public about life in the Hawaiian Islands. Mainlanders are only familiar with the glamorous, commercialized side of the islands. They know little about the history of this beautiful land or its people. Lindsey Buyers plans to change that. The former Miss Hawaii has made it her mission in life to educate the world about the plight of Native Hawaii. Her film provides people on the mainland a new perspective on the islands of paradise.

Since a very young age, Lindsey Buyers has known her life's purpose. "When I was seven, Hawaiian Elders told me that I would grow up and go far away to tell their story," she says. That is just what she did. She took her 17 years of acting experience, including a supporting role on ABC's "China Beach," for which she received an Emmy nomination, and began creating a documentary. It is not uncommon to see documentaries that focus on the possible extinction of different breeds of animals. However, Lindsey Buyers' film explores the possible extinction of a people and their culture.

"So few are aware of the dynamics here and what is transpiring in Hawaii," says Lindsey Buyers. "We here in Hawaii have had stories told via television and film about who we are, but our story is, for the most part, misrepresented."

Then There Were None's 26 minutes begin with vintage video and photographs that dance with an original musical score only to be abruptly interrupted by an effective series of cuts to black screens containing startling population statistics:

"Full-blooded Hawaiians in 1778—more than half a million."
"1822—200,000 full-blooded Hawaiians."
"1893—40,00 full-blooded Hawaiians."
"1993—8,711 full blooded Hawaiians"

With these documented reductions in population, the tone of the film could have easily been militant and bitter, but instead, Lindsey Buyers gives viewers room to make up their own minds without manipulation. Her father, an activist himself, influenced her in this direction.

He told her always to use her mind: if you come to the table and speak to people in a voice that they can hear, he said, they will be much more willing to listen to you. "If you go and raise a fist to them, you have already lost them as potential allies.'"

In spite of the non-partisan mood of the film, Lindsey Buyers says the Hawaiian government was not happy with the subject matter of her film, fearing it would affect tourism.

"This is not the image they want to project," she says, "Our [local] politicians are very short-sighted. They are looking at immediate returns."

Much as the politicians in the beginning of last century, the Hawaiian government of today treats the Hawaiian land and its people like a product.

Upon its completion, Lindsey Buyers first exhibited her documentary in Hawaii and realized Then There Were None would be a success. The filmmaker acknowledges that while she enjoys the awards and recognition her film has received, the response of the Hawaiian people is, for her, the ultimate reward. Her Hawaiian audience was moved to "utter sadness," she says, and she came to a realization that had always been in the back of her mind.

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Until you look at a wound and recognize it exists, it can never be healed
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"This was a soft voice waiting to get louder," she says, meaning the subject she put onto the big screen brought up a lot of things Hawaiians don't normally talk about. "Until you look at a wound and recognize it exists, it can never be healed," says Lindsey Buyers. "[After viewing the film], we were able to talk about it to get past our anger and pain and say, åwhere do we go from here?'"

After the exhibition on the islands, Lindsey Buyers took her film across the continental United States for a film tour. She started in Los Angeles, going through Utah and Chicago to the East Coast to Washington, Boston and New York. Among many venues, she lectured before the US Senate, the Smithsonian Institute, the Environmental Protection Agency, Harvard University and Brigham Young University in Laie, Hawaii. Following the tour, the film aired nationally on PBS in May of 1996.

Then There Were None received the CINE EAGLE award in Washington D.C. to represent the US in international competitions, the US International Film Award in Chicago and the CHRIS Award in Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. Lindsey Buyers has recently been appointed chairwoman of the Hawaii state film and television board. Among her goals as chairwoman, Lindsey Buyers would like to see the local film and television industry improve. Hawaii is the only state in the US that doesn't have its own film school. She believes this is why much of Hawaiian talent migrates to the mainland for job opportunities in the entertainment industry. She is in the process of co-chairing an organization to establish a film institute in Hawaii. She is also speaking with one of the writers of "ER" about a series for NBC.

In spite of Lindsey Buyers' keen sense of business, Then There Were None failed to turn a profit.

"I told them [investors] the truth, that I didn't' know if anyone would ever see the film. Everybody came on board knowing this was more of a social investment than it was an investment that was going to see returns." But there was a return for the Hawaiian's.

"I haven't met a Hawaiian yet that hasn't told me this is their story," says Lindsey Buyers.