From tourist kitsch to old Hollywood movies, many people are familiar with romanticized images of women dancing the hula in Hawai’i. While few are aware of the sacred traditions of the dance, the role of male hula dancers has long been overshadowed by Western concepts of gender and sexuality. From ancient times, when men learned the dance along with the martial arts of battle, to the suppression of the dance under missionary ban, the hula survived underground for many years until the cultural renaissance of the 1970’s.

In 1975, at the height this revival, master hula teacher Maiki Aiu Lake asked her student, legendary entertainer Robert Cazimero, to open a school for only male dancers. With six young high school students, Robert Cazimero founded H–alau N–a Kamalei and it suddenly became ‘hot’ for men to dance hula again. Celebrating their 30th anniversary, Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula tells a story of Hawaiian pride through the examination of male roles in Hawaiian culture both in the past and the present.

Blending dance and culture with the personal stories of the men, the film follows the dancers—who range in age from 18 to 55 years old—as they return to the largest hula competition in the world. Often called the “Superbowl of Hula”, the stakes are high at the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival. Though the school won over thirty years ago in 1975, the competition today typically favors women or the younger, more physically chiseled men’s groups. These men, many of whom are the oldest in competition, instead seek not to win, but to dance with pride and masculine grace.

Capturing the grueling rehearsals and the nervous last minutes backstage to the preparations of their leis and offerings to the goddess of the volcano, N–a Kamalei’s exciting return to the stage thrusts male hula dancers into the spotlight once again. Called a ‘rare victory’ for a men’s group, Robert and his men sweep the awards with their warrior-like dancing. Na Kamalei: The Men of Hula highlights the men’s ageless joy of dancing to reveal a renaissance that is not fading, but continuing the proud legacy of men in perpetuating the art of hula.

Director Biography - Lisette Flanary

Independent filmmaker, educator, and hula dancer, Lisette Marie Flanary creates films that celebrate a modern renaissance of the hula dance and Hawaiian culture. She is the writer, producer and director of Lehua Films and her award-winning documentaries, AMERICAN ALOHA: Hula Beyond Hawaiʻi (P.O.V. series 2003-2004), Nā Kamalei: The Men of Hula (Independent Lens series 2006-2007), ONE VOICE (NPT 2010-2011), and TOKYO HULA (Pacific Heartbeat series 2021) have broadcast nationally on public television and shown in film festivals around the world. Her last film, TOKYO HULA, the final film in a trilogy of hula documentaries exploring the explosive popularity of hula in Japan, was awarded the Best Moana Whārahi Films from the Pacific Award at the Doc Edge Film Festival in New Zealand in 2020. All three documentaries in the Hula Trilogy were broadcast on the Pacific Heartbeat Season 10 from Pacific Islanders in Communications in 2021. Lisette is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and after having lived in New York City for over 20 years, she moved to Hawaiʻi in 2011 and is currently a Professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She continues to support the local fimmaking community in Hawaiʻi through her work with Good Pitch Local Hawaiʻi, Hawaiʻi Women in Filmmaking, and ʻOhina Labs. She is currently in post-production on a short documentary film entitled Māhū: A Trans-Pacific Love Letter and in pre-production on a short narrative film, Wanle.

Director Statement - January 7,2025

Nā Kamalei: The Men of Hula follows the epic journey of Kumu Hula Robert Uluwehi Cazimero and his hālau, Nā Kamalei, as they journey to compete at the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo, Hawaiʻi. I began making this film in 2005 and wanted to create a documentary film that celebrated the revival of men dancing the hula by focusing on the legendary Hawaiian master hula teacher and beloved entertainer, Robert Cazimero and the only all-male hula school in Hawaiʻi. This was the second film in a trilogy of documentaries about the hula and one that is near and dear to my heart even 20 years later.

The film premiered at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival at Sunset on the Beach in Waikīkī in October of 2006. I can remember the amazing feeling of being on the beach at sunset listening to Robert and his brother Roland Cazimero sing as the guys danced. It was such a celebratory feeling to be there to watch the film with the entire community here in Hawaiʻi. HIFF awarded the film an Audience Award for Best Documentary and I received the Hawaiʻi Filmmaker Award that year. The film has had a long history as a crowd pleaser and everyone who sees it is moved by the deep bond between Robert and his students. And they see how much work it is to get to the competition at the Merrie Monarch Hula Festival – which we consider the Olympics of the hula world.

In 2007, Nā Kamalei: The Men of Hula went on to screen in numerous film festivals and received the Audience Award at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival (now CAAM), the VC Film Fest Special Jury Award for Best Non-Fiction Feature, the Emerging Director Award at the New York Asian American International Film Festvial, and Best Documentary at the San Diego Asian American Film Festival. The film then broadcast on PBS in the 2007-2008 Independent Lens series in May 2008 where it won the Audience Award for the entire series. So many people across the United States got to celebrate Robert and the dancers of Hālau Nā Kamalei at home in their living rooms.  

While it has been 20 years since I had the opportunity to share the film at the DisOrient Film Festival, I am absolutely thrilled to share it in DisOrient Reflections at DisOrient 2025. Without festivals like DisOrient to share impactful AANHPI stories with the world, independent films like Nā Kamalei: The Men of Hula would not be able to reach a wide audience. Since making Nā Kamalei, I have gone on to complete two more feature docs – ONE VOICE and TOKYO HULA – the final film in the hula trilogy and I am currently working on a short documentary that I hope to screen at DisOrient next year. Thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity to share Kumu Robert’s amazing story again.

And if you are a fan of the Merrie Monarch, Robert and Hālau Nā Kamalei will be returning to the Merrie Monarch stage one last time in April 22-26, 2025. You can stream the broadcast online! I promise you it will be a crowd pleaser.