LAST TAXI DANCE

DIR: BRAYDEN YODER, 2018 | 18 MINS

 

As idyllic Hawaiian songs reveal hidden resistance, a taxi dance hall sets the stage for a tense encounter between a beautiful native Hawaiian singer and a haunting returned soldier with a few dance tickets to spend..

 

“In just one beautiful dance, Brayden Yoder’s Last Taxi Dance artfully explores the tragedies and complexities of war from both the colonial and colonized perspectives. From the moment the film begins, the audience is swept back into a 1940’s Chinatown dance hall, filled with beautiful local women who trade dances with young soldiers for the price of a ticket. After the dancing ends, Mahea stays back to close up and be alone with her thoughts, until a forgotten soldier approaches her with unused dance tickets. Their last dance is so hauntingly beautiful that even weeks later, I could not help but think about their plights.”

 

-Stacy FukuharaWriter, Honolulu 

 

 

Brayden Yoder, Writer + Director

Born and raised in Honolulu, Brayden learned direction at the Film & Television Institute of India, where he created the award-winning short Breakdown. In 2016, he founded Clearing Barrel Productions as an independent, veteran-owned company dedicated to telling stories that challenge, inspire, and entertain through the media arts.

 

Ciara Lacy, Executive Producer
Ciara Leinaʻala Lacy is a native Hawaiian filmmaker whose interest lies in crafting films with strong characters and investigative journalism, which challenge the creative and political status quo. Her directorial debut, the feature-length documentary OUT OF STATE, won SDAFF 2017’s Best Documentary Feature.

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