 and welcome to Young at Heart. My name is Maria Mera, I'm your host and I'm also a financial advisor with Edward Jones for Disclosure. I have with me, I'm humble and honored and someone that I admire and I call her and I'm proud to call her my friend and my neighbor and her name is Janet, her son Jerenico. And she's the founder of the International Film Festival here in Hawaii. She's also been involved with non-profit and profit organizations in the film industry. He's also a founder of the Palm Springs Festival and now she has a podcast. We could spend the whole show talking about her background. So let's just introduce her. Thank you very much, Janet, for joining me today. I'm so delighted to be here. Like you said, we're friends and so just to see you makes me smile inside and outside. Yeah, I think we're great. Thank you for asking me. Thank you so much. And did I leave because you have such a great background that I tried to, did I leave something that you want to mention in there? I think it was just perfect. The only other thing I had is that I've lived here now for almost 47 years in Hawaii, which is really hard to believe. But I grew up in Oregon and moved here in 1975. And I'm just, so I'm almost ready for the comma, Aina. I'm curious. Oh, definitely. I'm curious. So first, what brought you to Hawaii? Was it just a move or if I want to go there? Well, it's kind of a long story to tell you the truth. And it's kind of, it's complicated. But the bottom line is my ex-husband and I really want to just start over and see if we could make our marriage work. And we just thought, well, we'll just move away. And where should we go? Why don't we go to Hawaii? And we landed on May 20, 1975. And I'm still here. He's in Arizona. He's in Arizona. We didn't know anybody. We didn't have a job or anything. I've heard the story before of the ex-living and the women's days. I can relate. So from before we get into just because I want to go over your career, but I also want to, I want the audience to get to know you better and understand and make you justice of the impact that you have in this community and the impact that you have in diversity and the impact that you have with women. And so from your point of view, when you arrived to Hawaii, how is it for a mainlander to arrive here? And were you welcome? Well, that's a wonderful question. Thank you so much. I moved on May 20. And on May 23, which happened to be my birthday, we went to a bar, my ex-husband and I, called the STI, where there was Hawaiian music. And it happened to be Eddie Kamai, who I'd never heard of in my life, and the sense of Hawaii playing music. And I just started to cry and cry. And it was of happiness and joy. I just felt the music spoke to me at a deep level that I had never really heard before. It was like his voice was transmitting something very ancient and old that was connected to the Aina and land. And it was when I heard his voice that I knew that this is where I really wanted to be. And here I am all these years later. And I could get tears in my eyes thinking of Eddie Kamai's music, you know? Yeah. I didn't have that much. I had a little trouble. I mean, I think people would just be lying if I didn't say I had some problems. But I was very lucky and then I got hired fairly quickly as the educational television station as a production assistant, which was a fantastic job to get to start at the bottom of the film industry. And I worked my way up to be a producer and writer after a few years. And then I went to college. I hadn't had a degree. I went to University of Hawaii while raising my three kids. And I just kind of got in through myself into this work, into this community. And it's just been a big love affair, really. A few bumps along the way, that's for sure. Yeah, but this is something that I will always remember. And you told me this, keep falling forward. Like every time you fall forward. Yeah, that's right. What happened? I'm going to tell that story because I brought up my ex-husband. So when I went to see my divorce lawyer, he certainly gave me a lot of good legal advice. But he gave me some of the best advice I'd had in my life. And that was, he says, I'm going to tell you two words to do. Keep moving. And I thought, wow, sometimes you just get up and you couldn't move. You were just paralyzed, just feeling terrible. But I hear him saying to me, keep moving and get out of bed and get out and keep moving. So that's what you were referring to. And that really has been something that has guided me. Since 1980, yeah. I usually lawyers are not the best to give personal advice. But in this case, definitely. I mean, sometimes it's not the best we can do, right? And just keep moving. Yeah. OK, well, talking about dreams and talking about professional and drive, you were the founder of the film festival in Hawaii. How do you get to even dream of that? So tell us the years before, how do you get there? Well, first of all, I have to be real clear that Hawaii is a collaborative place. We work as a team and we work real collaboratively. And so even though I claim the title of the founder of the film festival and was given that by the board of directors, which I'm very grateful for, and I was the first director from 1981 to 1996, it couldn't have gotten done without a real amazing team. 300 volunteers the first year, if you can believe it. I mean, 300 people just gave so much of their time. But anyway, I was hired at the East West Center after I got my degree. I didn't have a degree when I moved here. But I went back to school and got it. And after I got it, I was hired in the Public Relations Department. And the first president that hired me of the East West Center called me in and said, think of three ideas where we can get Hawaii closer to the community. And one of my three ideas was a film festival. And he liked that idea. And he said, you go do it. But I'm giving you no money, but I'm giving you a watts line, which was a phone you could call anywhere in the world. And I was thrilled to have an office, a watts line, and a job, and an assignment. And so I started doing the film festival, even though I'd never been to one, never been to Asia. And with the help of some incredible people, I have to mention Tom Jackson, Hank Wong, Linda Little. These are just Victor Kobayashi and Frank Tillman. I just have to mention their names at the very beginning that first year. And against all odds, and I do mean against all odds, because that president got fired. And a new president came in, and he didn't like what I was doing and told me to stop it. And I said, too late. We've handed out the tickets. They're coming. And he says, well, keep it small. And I got a call from one of the TV stations at 7.30 in the morning when we were giving out free tickets. And he says, can you come down right away to the Varsity Theater, because there's lines around the box. People waiting to get their free tickets. And so we saw a picture of that varsity theater. Yeah, there it is. There it is. Yeah, we ran out of tickets in three days. And we have the capacity crowd. Every seat taken 5,000 people that first day. And we had as our theme, when strangers meet. And I think I've given a logo there, our first year's logo. People really related to that, because it was the emphasis was on cross-cultural relationships for Asia Pacific and the United States. And we had after film discussions in hotels, with the Hyatt Regency and the theaters. And the community just embraced it, so that the guy that wanted to fire me couldn't, because the community was too crazy over it. And we had a fundraiser. And I think I've got a picture of the first fundraiser, or Jack Lord, who wrote us a check for $5,000, Olivia Newton-John, Alan Carr, who did Grease, who's pushing me out of the way. That's me with a hockey leg. So we can have room for the meet the celebrities. But we raised enough money at that first fundraiser at Sea Life Park to have the second festival. So it was all the community supporting it and helping. So how much, how much for a financial advisor? How much did you have to raise? You remember? Well, the first year, the first year, maybe I raised so much of it was in kind. We were given theaters. We were given the movies. We were given hotel rooms. We were given parties. So I might have raised $75,000. Oh, we got a grant. We got a grant from the Hawaii Committee for Humanities for $36,000. And that was about half our cash budget, yeah. Now you have to remember my salary was paid for by the East West Center. And a lot of the people working on it were from the East West. But we also looked about 40 years ago, right? For 45 years ago. Right, but as we went along in years, by the time I left the festival, 15 years later our budget was about a million dollars. And so every year we had raised one million dollars. And we did, thanks to the community. Has it been that the festival has been going on every single year since you started in 1981, right? Yes, that's right. I think it's in its 42nd year now. And we've had great directors that followed me, you know. And, but most of all, we've had this community of the public with the government, but with the private enterprise, hotels and movie theaters and volunteers, the volunteers have just been incredible. And then people just really supported. I think I have a picture of Roger Ebert, the great film critic. I just called him up and Gene Sisko and said, do you want to come to Hawaii in November? Never met him in my life. He was at Watsline and he was there. Now this picture you're looking at right now, I think it's extraordinary because the East West Center sent John Charleau, who was a scholar there to Vietnam. And this was right after we had, this was, he went to Hanoi. And this was when we just, the war had just ended. And no one was, the North Vietnamese were not allowed at that point in America. They must not realize that Hawaii was part of America because they said that we got this wonderful film delegation that showed incredible films from Vietnam about the war that we fought. And from the Vietnam, from the North Vietnam side and right in the next theater, we showed a film from the American point of view and then had a discussion afterwards with those filmmakers. And Roger wrote about it and that really put us on the map. That was an amazing, amazing story, 1987. So, one thing that I'm, that as you were talking and I was looking at the pictures before we started the program and knowing you, right? One thing that it really strikes me is that it seems like a very competitive environment but at the same time, just that teamwork and that everybody is willing to chin and come and do their best. Can you talk about that? Well, you know, there's two things here. We're talking about the festival and then we're talking about filmmaking or are you talking about fundraising? I don't know. The festival in this case. The festival now? The festival now? When I started, when I started the festival, there were, there was no other film festival in Hawaii and very few in America, in fact, very few in the world. I think it was one of the only, probably the only woman film festival director. And so my experience with the Hawaii International Film Festival, the first 15 years was more cooperation than competitive and also we were free, free to get in and also there weren't, there weren't that many films from Asia and the Pacific to sell. So it was built on a very collaborative point of view and not so competitive, except maybe to get in later on, particularly when there became more films. Now, the film industry might be a whole other story and it's actually something I'm trying to work on now and we could talk about it now. I can talk about it later. I'm trying to change that. Let's make it more collaborative. There's a little break here, Jeanette, and then we will reconvene and continue with our evolution of the film industry in Hawaii. Thank you very much everybody. We'll be right back. Hi, I'm Rusty Kamori, host of Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. I was the head coach for the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. My show is based on my book also titled Beyond the Lines and it's about leadership, creating a superior culture of excellence and finding greatness. I feature a wide range of amazing guests who share valuable insights about how going Beyond the Lines leads to success in everything you do in life. I'm looking forward to you joining me every Monday at 11 a.m. Aloha. And welcome back everybody. We are in our so young and hard and we have Jeanette Boson and Nico and we just left it in a interesting point talking about competitiveness and what about those local artists and filmmakers, Jeanette, how did you work with them directly or how does that work, does it work? Well, to tell you the truth, which I strive to do, at the very beginning, that was one of the problems we had with the East West Center and why we broke away because they did not, the head people, the top people did not want local filmmakers. They wanted more Asia and Pacific ones. I wanted a lot of the people working on it really wanted the local filmmakers. So what we did is, yeah, in 1987 was there weren't that many local filmmakers but we were really on the lookout for them. And about 1985, 87 here came Eddie Kamai, the very singer who I had heard in style that I told you about earlier. And he and his wife worked together and they just made the most incredible new films. And so the only time he ever wore a tuxedo in his life was to accept the best documentary award at the Wallis Wall Festival. And he and there was another wonderful Hawaiian, native Hawaiian filmmaker named Pui Pao and he and his partner Joan Lander just made incredible films on the history of Hawaii from the politics of Hawaii where Eddie was more on the people of Hawaii. He got right into the politics and presented a new way to look at the history of Hawaii, the act of war, the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom. We took that to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as well as the Hawaii Film Festival. We took Eddie with the sons of Hawaii to the Kennedy Center in Washington DC to New York at the Film Forum. So we did much more than just show here but we took the local filmmakers on tour including and always tried to include music and always trying to clothe food because those are big elements of our Hawaii culture. And this is the greatest memories that we did but I think it's important to know that we were really the leaders with Asia Pacific and Hawaii filmmakers and introducing them all over the country. We went from university to university, got funding for it. So that was a full-time year-round job not just in Hawaii, but we were on fire with this whole country. Who in the public relations right of their film festival and everything Asian and Pacific film industry? Yeah, we really wanted to promote the Hawaii point of view, the Hawaii storytelling that looks at things that had not had a chance to tell stories because the space that most of history is written by the people who win the battles, win everything, not the people don't often get to tell the stories. So we believed in stories from the bottom up and the why, the untold stories that was just like mining gold and our Hawaii filmmakers are telling those stories visually and the Hawaii film festival is on fire, not just then but now with telling these stories and highlighting them. And just listening to you, I think that is not only the film, the Hawaii film festival that is on fire. Yes, you're very passionate about it and that's what you need to bring something to a whole new different level. So question now, 2021, what is the future of the film festival? Well, I'm not on the board and I'm not the Hawaii film festival director so I don't speak officially, but I'm absolutely delighted and I think we have a picture of all the four film festival directors who've been directors since the beginning of the time. I'm just so thrilled, there we are. Chuck Buller started working for me and then he was hired as the film festival director and the woman with the lay there in the center is Becky Stoacci, I hope I'm saying her last name right, it's Italian. Oh my God. But anyway, she is incredibly great director now and really helping with the Hawaii filmmakers. It's strong, she's taken the festival out of debt and got money in the bank to help with this next year's festival and she has gotten her staff to really be flexible with the pandemic and show films virtually and I just am so proud of her. And then the last director before her was Robert Lambeth. So yes, it's continuing. It was flexible to change because people didn't really wanna go to a big theater during the pandemic. And so we used Zoom and just streaming films and you'd have the same after-film discussions and workshops and you could, on your screen was the film, the Philippines or from New York or from Seoul and they didn't have to pay to be here. We could just see them on our screen and talk to them real time. So it worked, it worked, yeah, with its new way. So I think we're gonna go. The last thing, sorry, I'm interrupting you, but I want you to tell us everything. So what are the new projects? I had something in the works with this Balden house, what used to be the contemporary art museum, right? The last time I talked. Well, okay, first of all, I think I'm gonna talk about the vision behind this Balden house because this Balden house is where we want the vision to be actualized because it's a perfect place. The vision is that just what we, was your wonderful question, Maria, you asked it about the competitiveness versus the cooperative way of being and filmmaking has gotten kind of competitive. But anyway, the film festival, there's about 10 non-profit film organizations in Honolulu, 10. And instead of them always kind of separate and raising their money and doing their programs, we wanna bring them together. Now they all kind of need homes because most of them are just going from the good heart of landlords or on month-to-month or taking cheap places. What about having everybody come together at this Balden house? What about having all the film organization have a headquarters, one place, where they can be collaborative, where they can be creative together and create new programs that benefit the whole of Hawaii, particularly our underrepresented voices, particularly the filmmakers who have stories that we have not heard. Why can't we not incubate their stories and turn them into films in the beautiful Spalding house area that has gardens and a cafe. And we, sorry, while you talk, I would love, Eric, if you can play the video while Janet is talking, so people can have the picture in their heads. But otherwise, just keep that in, Janet will try to find us. Yeah, it'd be great to see it so you can get a feeling of that. See how gorgeous it is? What about dreaming and telling stories and talking as you're walking down there? Spalding house is historic. It has deep roots in this community, cultural meaning to people, and it's up for sale. And rather than a private person buy it, wouldn't it be great if this community bought it and there's tax deductions for people who might want to buy it that they can get and have this be the home and hub and gathering place of film organizations and film filmmakers. It has three apartments that we can bring in, the great filmmakers from around the world to work with our filmmakers and we could be free to look to Asia and the Pacific as equal as we look to the continent in finding our own cinematic style. So that's the dream of the future I have. And there's a whole group of us working on breaking the truth and if any of your listeners have the money to buy it or are more interested in more information, they can let you know and then you'll tell me. It could not be a more beautiful place, definitely. So yeah, I would love to see that vision that you have made into reality. Janet, I'm going to go ahead now and I would like to just fire you a couple of quick questions and if you can give me a quick answer or however you want to respond. What qualities do you look for in a person? What, can you repeat the question? What do you like from a person? What qualities do you want someone who is... I mean, what qualities do you look for in a festival? Is that what you're saying? No, no, no, no. Just in a person. These are just more personal questions to you. Person. Okay. Well, I like someone who's really... Stick to it, stick to it there. Fully alive like you, Maria. Fully alive and fully true and authentic to yourself. Not trying to pretend you're something that you're not. I like people who are transparent, who are interested in other people who are empathetic. I'm usually drawn to people who are from different cultures. I guess it's because I'm married to Polynesian and I've been immersed in cross-culture relations and films now for 40 years. You could not be more cross-cultural at every level. Who is the hero of yours in life or a role model? Who's my role model? Gosh, she's such a good question. Well, this is really funny, but I think of women. I mean, I'm really strong on what women influence me and you have to remember that I grew up at a time when you just had to manipulate men and figure out how to work them because you weren't supposed to be around in positions of power and so you batted your eyelashes and got things done, but it was in a manipulative way. So I think the biggest change I've seen in my lifetime is the women, how far women have come, but the two women who influenced me the most was probably Tina Turner. I love her zest for life. I love her get up and fight. I love her not being discouraged with things, not letting anyone or anything let her go and probably a person just opposite of that would be another role model of mine and that's Mary Bitterman, who was working at the East West Center and was the first woman that was ahead of public television, the first woman who was ahead of the cultural and communication at the East West Center and she's educated, she had her PhD, she knew how to administrate, she knew how to be collaborative, she knew how to listen. Quite a bit different from Tina Turner, but she made things happen by knowing, by being so wise and smart and good values, good heart. And they would love to hear those words coming from you and are they a strong independent woman, more power to you. Give us your favorite movie or the favorite film that you can think of. Well, my favorite movie is usually the movie I'd seen last that I really liked and this is no exception when you've asked me right now. So the movie that comes immediately to my mind is of all things the Bangladesh movie. There's a beautiful Bangladesh movie, it's going to show at the film festivals here. I urge people to see it. It's called Salt in Our Water and it's made by an Indigenous Bangladesh director. It's his first feature and it is just incredible about an artist who goes to a fishing village and encounters fishermen as he brings his art of being a sculpture and the clash of culture and how do they come together with it as climate change comes to happen to this village. I thought the way he made this film with the people who lived in this little fishing village was such an amazing treat to see. That gives you the kind of films I like, but whatever. So we're going to have to begin out. Salt in Our Waters. It's called The Salt in Our Waters. Okay, we'll write that one out. Your favorite place on Earth? Oh, probably two places, Makapu'u, like up at the lighthouse looking over, or just a hike up to Makapu'u. I love that and Waimanalo Bellows. That's probably my favorite, but a very close second is Southern France. Oh, yes. Or north of Spain. I'm just not in that. Janet, just to finish up, tell us how would you like to be remembered? Oh my God, these questions are amazing. How would I like to be remembered? Okay, I can answer that as a storyteller. You know, I am a storyteller. I started my career as a professional storyteller with an artist in the schools program in Oregon, which is also my favorite place in the world, Oregon and Hawaii for men from stories. That's how I got into film, really. I would still be a storyteller. I still am a storyteller with my podcast, but there's so many great storytellers here in Hawaii that I thought I should just be helping their stories be told rather than going in the schools and telling myself. And also, you know, I'm a mother and I'm a grandmother. I'm a great grandmother and I've got this great husband. So I want to be known, I guess, as a woman who is a storyteller and feeling very fulfilled about my life at this stage. This is so beautiful, Janet. I love your passion and I love your energy. And for those who don't know, your podcast is called While Wisdom, the podcast.com. That's exactly right. Yeah. And I love you, Maria. I would invite our audience, you as our audience to listen to this podcast and follow these very, very interesting women. And thank you so much, Janet. I really appreciate you coming here today. It's been my great pleasure. Thank you so much. Thank you for keeping us all young at heart. Thank you. And thank you, everybody. We'll see you next Tuesday on Young at Heart and Aloha.