A film that's been described as a love letter to the University of Hawaiʻi will debut on Oct. 30 at the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival.
"Profs" is a short film that looks at campus culture and was co-directed by former UH Mānoa professor and First Lady of the State of Hawaiʻi Nancie Caraway.
Filmmaker Jess Cole joined Caraway in HPR's studio to discuss the film as they eagerly await its debut.
The duo, Cole explained, have been close friends for nearly their entire lives.
"He's always been part of my life. Always a fighter. Always passionate about something," she told HPR.
So it was only natural that their bond and shared passion for filmmaking should lead to the creation of a film close to their lives.
"Profs' stood out to me because it was simple … but it also struck me as one of Nancy's authentic stories about herself," she explained.
Caraway, who describes herself as a 'recovering professor,' said that the idea for the film was conceived from the challenges — both trying and trivial — that she's faced in academia.
"I have been in the trenches of some of these debates, and I thought it would be wonderful to explore in a small film," she said.
"A snippet here, a snippet there, a little truth, a little satire there, so that audiences themselves can see some of the emotional and political stakes involved."
The film centers on two characters, one a retiring professor and the other a rebellious student, who both reckon with their responsibility as outsiders in a university on land that isn't theirs to claim.
"We know where that comes from in a post-colonial society like Hawaiʻi, and we need to represent that, and we need to see how we go forward," Caraway summarized.
"Profs" will be screening at Consolidated Theatres Kahala and at Consolidated Kapolei as part of HIFF46. More information can be found here.
This story aired on The Conversation on Oct. 29, 2026. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. Jinwook Lee adapted this story for the web.
