Rel Sunn documentary offered during Women’s Health Month

“Heart of the Sea” is a portrait of surf legend Rell “Kapolioka‘ehukai” Sunn, founding member of the Women‘s Professional Surfing Association and one of Hawai‘i‘s most beloved community leaders.

In honor of Women‘s Health Month, the Kaua‘i County Committee on the Status of Women presents a free showing of “Heart of the Sea”, the story of Hawai‘i surfer Sunn’s battle with cancer. Much more than her fight, this is a film about a courageous and generous spirit committed to serving community youth.

Sunn died in January 1998 of breast cancer at the age of 47. Known worldwide as a pioneer of women’s professional surfing in the islands, Sunn achieved the stature of icon — not only for her physical power, grace and luminous beauty, but for her leadership in a community that loved her as much as she loved it.

This hour-long documentary is about a woman who was named one of Hawai‘i’s most influential women of the 20th century by ABC television. Her name translated means “heart of the sea.”

During her 14-year battle with cancer she “captured the heart of Hawai‘i” reported the New York Times. The story is set primarily in Makaha, a beach town on the leeward coast of O‘ahu. The area is depicted as one troubled by crime, drug abuse, high teen pregnancy and rising school drop-out rates.

Sunn considered it a “paradise on Earth.”

Surfing by the age of 4, Sunn led by doing. She was a woman who carved the way for women’s professional surfing, in a sport dominated by men.

Sunn also led her community as an organizer and activist for at-risk youth and for the preservation of the natural beauty and cultural traditions of her native Hawai‘i.

At the age of 32 Sunn was diagnosed with breast cancer. With no family history of the disease, Sunn discovered that Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander women have the highest incidence of breast cancer of all women in the United States and detection and prevention programs were largely under funded.

She became an activist for breast cancer awareness and for the protection of the environment from the toxins she believed caused her disease.

Heart of the Sea follows Sunn’s personal and public life, interwoven in her last interview in 1997 — two months before her death. There is archival footage, news, home videos, and interviews with her daughter, friends, surfers, doctors and others in the community.

Sunn, the storyteller, is never far from the dramatic center, as she recounts adventures and adversity with the openness and warmth that was her trademark.

The film’s lyrical style combines traditional Hawaiian music and ambient sounds of nature with underwater scenes shot by award-winning cinematographer Don King.

The mix of DVCAM, used for interviews and hospital settings, and 16-mm film, for the ocean and landscape footage, brings the audience closer to the depth and beauty of Sunn’s world.

The result is a view of the islands at once vibrant, authentic, inspiring, and alive. Through Sunn’s feats, her tales, grace, beauty and her uncanny use of the media, she left behind a larger-than-life story that was perhaps her greatest gift to the community that loved her, a story that delves deep into the heart of Hawai‘i.

Producer and director Charlotte Lagarde‘s documentary was broadcast internationally. In the United States the film won the PBS Independent Lens Audience Award 2003, the Audience Award at both the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Newport Beach Film Festival and Best Documentary Award at the Ashland Independent Film Festival.

“Heart of the Sea” is being shown in honor of Women’s Health Month on Oct. 4, at 6 p.m. at Kaua‘i Community College in the Technology Building, Room 114 (located next to the Performing Arts Center).

There will be a discussion period afterward. The film is sponsored by the Kaua‘i County Committee on the Status of Women, with Kaua‘i YWCA and the American Cancer Society of Kaua‘i. For more information contact Michael Gmelin 245-8253.