Standing Above the Clouds

Fight for what you love. Expanded from the 2020 short film, three intergenerational Indigenous Hawaiian families seek to protect their native land and sacred mountain—the towering inactive volcano Mauna Kea—from the construction of the world’s largest telescope.STANDING ABOVE THE CLOUDS highlights the movement to protect Mauna Kea through the intergenerational stories of women in three Native Hawaiian families. The documentary 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 building of a massive telescope on the mountain since 2010. As they face opposition and arrests, they are joined by a community who have dedicated their lives to protecting Mauna Kea. 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.