page 6
page 7
Visit us at
inhonolulumag.com for
blogs, guides and reviews
all month long and look
for our web isssues every
first Friday.
01
From page 5
The documentary is scheduled to be
finished this coming summer, in time for
the 40th anniversary of the Wahine volleyball program’s inclusion in the Association
for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women,
which became part of the NCAA in 1981.
From Documentary to Hollywood Film
“I actually saw this story in my mind
as a Hollywood film before I saw it as
a documentary. The more I did research
on Dr. Thompson, the more I realized
how cinematic this amazing story was
and I knew I wanted to tell the story
through film,” Kaneshiro explains. “I
mean, some of the stories—we’re talking
real life stories here—every time I’d discover a new one, I’d be like, ‘shut up, that
can’t be true!’”
The battles Mink fought in Congress
and the battles Thompson fought at UH
interweave and build off one another to
create a true underdog story in a sports
sense as well as socially, politically and in
the media.
“The vision of what they accomplished
and how they pulled it off is a story that
will appeal to any visionary—not just
those in women’s equality. It’s a story that
deserves studio-level funding,” says Kaneshiro. “You have a cast of a multi-ethnic,
fascinating characters and a story of national significance.”
At the time, Kaneshiro decided to tuck
that idea in his pocket to await major studio-level funding. In the mean time, he
busied himself with creating the independently funded documentary.
Then, about a year ago, Kaneshiro
pitched the idea to Callies as a film script.
“Sarah got really excited about the
idea—she loves it, she loves Hawai‘i—and
I think she