Documentary Short
Role: Director
Distribution: 2021, Broadcast via American Masters and PBS Online
IMDB

LOGLINE
This is the Way We Rise is an exploration into the creative process, following Native Hawaiian slam poet Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio as her calling to protect sacred sites atop Maunakea, Hawai`i reinvigorates her art.

CREDITS
• Director Ciara Leina`ala Lacy
• Cinematograher Chapin Hall 
• Editors Adithya Sambamurthy, Nathan Caswell
• Graphic Design Lani Rodriguez 
•  Composer Craig Sutherland 
•  Sound Design and Mix Dan Timmons
•  Story Producers Adithya Sambamurthy, Matthew Cushing

AWARDS
• 2022 New Filmmakers LA Best Documentary Short - article
• 2021 Official Selection | Sundance Film Festival
•  2021 The Sundance Institute's Indigenous Short Film Tour
• 2021 Nomination (Part of an anthology series) | NAACP Image Award
•  2020 Best Short Documentary | Thin Line Fest
•  2020 Audience Award: Best Documentary Short | Ashland Independent Film Festival
•  2020 Walla Walla Film Crush | Best Documentary Short

FILM FESTIVALS
Sundance, Hot Docs, Crested Butte Film Festival, D.C. Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital, Defy Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival, Key West Film Festival, Made in Hawaii Film Festival, Maoriland Film Festival, Maui Film Festival, Middlebury New Filmmakers Festival, NewFilmmakers Los Angeles, New York International Children’s Film Festival, Official Latino Film and Arts Festival, Pacifica Film Festival, Seattle Asian American Film Festival, Seattle Queer Film Festival, Short Circuit Pacific Rim Film Festival, Still Voices Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Thin Line Festival, Walla Walla Movie Crush, Way OUT West Film Festival, Woods Hole Film Festival

PRESS
• IndieWire, 9 Best Shorts of Sundance 2021
• Vogue, A New Documentary Centers Protest, Poetry, and the Fight for Native Hawaiian Sovereignty

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

THIS IS THE WAY WE RISE