GOOD TALK WITH FILMMAKER CIARA LACY

Ciara Lacy is an award winning native Hawaiian filmmaker whose interest lies in crafting films that use strong characters and investigative journalism to challenge the status quo. Ciara holds a BA from Yale University, and graduated from Hawai`i's Kamehameha Schools. She is a Lecturer at the University of Hawaii West Oahu in the Academy of Creative Media, and has spoken around the country at schools on native storytelling, women and film and using media to empower communities. She recently directed and produced OUT OF STATE, a film that follows two native Hawaiian inmates who have been shipped thousands of miles away from the tropical islands of Hawaii to a private prison in the Arizona desert where they learn their indigenous traditions from a fellow inmate serving a life sentence. It's from this unlikely setting that David and Hale finish their terms and return to Hawaii, hoping for a fresh start. Eager to prove to themselves and to their families that this experience has changed them forever, David and Hale struggle with the hurdles of life as formerly incarcerated men, asking the question: can you really go home again? Ciara’s documentary work has shown in theaters and has aired on PBS, ABC, TLC, Discovery, Bravo and A&E. She is honored to be the inaugural Sundance Institute Merata Mita Fellow and a current Princess Grace Awards Special Project grantee. She has been a fellow with Firelight Media's Documentary Lab, the Sundance Institute and Time Warner Foundation, the Sundance Institute’s NativeLab, the Princess Grace Foundation, and IFP.