On July 10th, Next City will be screening "Standing Above the Clouds," a feature-length documentary highlighting the movement to protect Mauna Kea through the intergenerational stories of women in three Native Hawaiian families as they stand for the sacred mountain. The film follows teacher and community organizer Pua Case and her two daughters, artist-activists Hāwane Rios and Kapulei Flores, who have been called to stop the telescope since 2010. Their lives quickly become consumed with frontline actions and court proceedings and immersed in ceremonies and cultural practices. As they face opposition and arrests, they are joined by a community who have dedicated their lives to protecting Mauna Kea.

The film is an intimate journey through the women’s lives both on and off the mountain, and explores the physical and emotional toll of sustaining a grassroots movement. After nine months of living on the mountain, blocking construction, and establishing a frontline camp, Standing Above The Clouds shows their journey to heal once they return to their homes in March 2020. In the face of challenges and tragedy, the mountain gifts each woman with hope and strength and the understanding that victory is in standing in unity for sacred places and that healing occurs through the sisterhood they have created along the way.

Standing Above the Clouds Q & A with Pua Case and Leinaʻala Sleightholm, Mauna Kea movement leaders, protectors, cultural practitioners and Next City's Managing Editor, Aysha Khan

Pua Case and Leinaʻala Sleightholm are featured in Standing Above the Clouds as mothers within the Mauna Kea Movement who have long stood to protect the sacred mountain through community organizing, frontline actions, participation in contested case hearings, and the practice of cultural and ceremonial traditions. Leinaʻala is from the district of Kona and Pua is from Puʻukapu, Waimea. Together with their daughters, they agreed to be part of this film to honor all mothers and daughters engaged in similar struggles for sacred lands—both in Hawaiʻi and around the world. Their story offers an intimate look at the personal and collective challenges, responsibilities, and celebrations that come with being part of a movement deeply rooted in Indigenous knowledge, place, and practice.

Pua Case was born and raised on the Island of Hawai’i and is a Kumu Hula, a teacher of traditional dance and chant, and teacher of the life ways, culture and traditions of the kanaka maoli or native peoples of Hawai’i. Pua serves on various educational and cultural boards in Hawaiʻi and is the Lead Coordinator and Project Director of Mauna Kea Education and Awareness.She has been a part of the Mauna Kea Movement over the past fourteen years and has been involved in both community and frontline actions to safeguard the mountain and unify peoples of all nations in a collective mission to network, plan, and support one another. As a Kumu Hula and composer of both oli and mele, Pua has shared her selections within and beyond Hawaiʻi. Pua focuses on incorporating cultural and traditional values and life ways into all efforts and actions to set a precedence of protocols for social and environmental justice and positive change. Pua has been awarded the 2023 USAToday Hawaii Women of the Year, and the Sunrise Foundation Puka ʻana a ka lā Award. In 2024 received the esteemed NCORE Suzan Shown Harjo Advocate for Systemic Social Justice Award.

Moderator: Aysha Khan is Next City's managing editor. Her reporting has appeared nationally in outlets including the Associated Press, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe and Religion News Service. She has been awarded fellowships with the Solutions Journalism Network, the International Center for Journalists, the GroundTruth Project, the Journalism & Women Symposium, the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and more. Aysha holds degrees from Harvard Divinity School and the University of Maryland. To submit articles and story ideas, check out our pitch guide.