FirstLight: Academy Screenings on Maui Dec 14, 16-18, 20-23 & 26-30
FIRSTLIGHT FILM DESCRIPTIONS
Oka!
Running Time: 106 minutes
Friday, December 30 at 7:30pm
Rated: NR
Director: Lavinia Currier Cast: Kris Marshall, Isaach De Bankolé, Will Yun Lee, The Bayaka of Yandombe
In English and Bantu and French with English subtitles.
The forest dwelling tribe of Bayaka pygmies is famed for its acute hearing ('Oka!' means 'listen!" in their Akka language).When the tribe's revered leader hears a menacing new sound in the forest, his super-sensory powers send a message to "Big Ear," his ethnomusicologist friend Larry Whitman (Kris Marshall, Love Actually), from his sickbed in New Jersey.Against doctor's orders, Larry travels to his friends in Central Africa to help them battle Mayor Bassoun (Isaach de Bankole,The Limits of Control), a powerful local politician who is helping Mr. Yi (Will Yun Lee, Die Another Day), a developer with a logging company intent on destroying the Bayaka's forest home. Refusing to give in, Larry and the pygmies humorously concoct a series of obstacles to try to prevent the loggers, all while continuing to enjoy their colorful way of life with music and dance inspired by the beauty of the African forest, its animals and magical spirits.
