Edgy Lee
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Edgy Lee is an independent Hawaii-born filmmaker. She has also produced Shanachie Records artists as varied as Joe Higgs and The Wailers, and His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama.1999 when Edgy produced a CD for the Office of Tibet – a compilation of His Holiness' symposia in Hawaii, with rare traditional Tibetan music performed by artists living in exile around the world, Hawaiian chants, and remarks by the late Reverend Abraham Akaka and kumu hula John Lake.
Lee's music credits also include co-compositions with Wayne Shorter (CBS Records, "Atlantis"), film composer, Joseph Vitarelli (Fox Network, other); and with composer Robert Wehrman. (Waikiki in the Wake of Dreams contains an original production of the Hawaiian classic, "Waikiki" performed and arranged by the Grammy winning group, Take Six).
Lee's films include Papakolea – Story of Hawaiian Land, Paniolo O Hawai'i – Cowboys of the Far West, Waikiki – In the Wake of Dreams and The Hawaiians – Reflecting Spirit. These films were made in the hope of bringing a deeper awareness of the Hawaiian culture to a national public whose image of native Hawaiians may have been shaped by stereotypes.
Waikiki premiered at the National Geographic Society and received the 2002 New York International Independent Film Festival awards for Best Cinematography and Best Editing. Its Hawaii premiere was held on Kuhio Beach, the first open air public screening of a film in Waikiki which initiated the City & County of Honolulu's successful tourism event that now attracts thousands to Waikiki every month to the "Sunset on the Beach" film screening event. At the Chicago International Film Festival it received an Intercom Gold Plaque.
Other Lee films have premiered at the City Museum and Hirshhorn Museum in Washington DC, the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Heard Museum in Phoenix, the Autry National Center in Los Angeles, at other U.S. museums and small theatres, and at special film screenings and events held on Waikiki Beach and New York's waterfront. In 2005 Lee's film, The Hawaiians - Reflecting Spirit (title sponsor, Office of Hawaiian Affairs) opened festivities at the Smithsonian's Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.
Warner Reprise released a companion soundtrack CD to the film Paniolo O Hawaii produced by former Warner Bros. Records Nashville, President Jim Ed Norman with Hawaiian kumu and performer, Nani Lim; and Public Radio International aired a one-hour program incorporating excerpts and music from the film.
Edgy also co-produced and directed Life or Meth and ICE: Hawaii's Crystal Meth Epidemic, two independently produced films on the methamphetamine epidemic in Hawaii. Both films were simulcast across the state of Hawaii on eleven TV stations and continue to garner national acclaim and use by several Native American communities where meth addiction is on the rise.
In 2007 filmmaker Lee founded Pacific Network (www.PacificNetwork.tv), an Internet network of nine channels as a "Native Hawaiian portal to the world". The network launched in the fall of 2007. Alliances include Time Warner Telecom, KGMB9 (CBS Hawaii affiliate), Hawaii Public Radio, University of Hawaii, Hawaii Business, Network Media, and several media resources including museums, travel and health organizations.
[edit] Awards and presentations
- 2005 Ten Who Made a Difference, Honolulu Star Bulletin
- 2004 Pacific Business News Leadership Award, Non profit category
- 2003 Honolulu City Council Award for Outstanding Community Service
- 2002 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival – Best Cinematography (Jiri Dvorsky)
- 2002 New York International Independent Film and Video Festival – Best Editing, Documentary Film (Edgy Lee)
- 2001 Chicago International Film Festival – INTERCOM Gold Plaque
- 2001 Kahili Award, Literary Category (Edgy Lee / Paul Berry)
- 2000 Kahili Best of Show Award and Kahili Award for Media Broadcasting
- 1998 Chicago International Film Festival – INTERCOM Silver Plaque
- 1998 Chicago International Film Festival – Individual Achievement Award, Writing (Edgy Lee)
- 1995 National Educational Media Network Silver Award
- 1994 Corporation for Public Broadcasting – Silver Award (Excellence In TV Programming, Independent)
- 1993 CINE Golden Eagle Award (Papakolea – Story of Hawaiian Land; Edgy Lee, Producer/Director/Writer; Haskell Wexler, Cinematography; Saul Landau, Co-writer)
