Melina Kiyomi Coumas is an award-winning experimental filmmaker from the island of O'ahu, now based in the Pacific Northwest. With a BA in Film Studies, her focus is in filmmaking while also pursuing interests in photography and writing. Her works have screened both locally and internationally. She shoots primarily on celluloid film formats, exploring themes surrounding memory, identity and perception.
Melina is currently a freelancer for arts organizations and film festivals, offering various services in coordinating, outreach, grant management, project review, and programming.
Photography
Ocean Moon, Water Mother 海月/水母 (2023)
16mm, Color, Sound
Spit it Out (2023)
Super 8mm, Color, Sound
A personal, intimate short detailing what growing up with a speech
impediment was like for the filmmaker and how it continues to affect her
to this day.
$hithole Paradise (2020)
Super 8mm, Color, Sound
A comment on over-tourism in Hawaii, particularly along the historic Waikiki strip in Honolulu. An advertised “Paradise,” Waikiki has become an epicenter for drugs and crime. Once a powerful sacred place for Native Hawaiians, now a dirty playground for tourists.
Call Me Back (2020)
Super 8mm, Color, Sound
Using the last voicemail Melina's Grandmother left on her phone, the
short becomes a mediation on loss and haunted spaces. Originally made
just for family.
Aquí (2019)
16mm, Color, Sound
An exploration of what home means to a multicultural young woman.
In Spanish with English subtitles.
Day Off Vibes (2018)
16mm, Color, Sound
A rumination on the pressures of being productive.
Obsidian Glaze (2016)
Super 8mm, Color, Sound
A mysterious entity attempts to communicate with strange images
Reverie At Noon (2016)
16mm, Color, Sound
Inspired by the summer heat and a newfound obsession with ASMR
A Ritual Phantasm (2015)
Super 8mm & 16mm, Color, Sound
Super 8mm footage was an experiment shot in 2015 with 16mm hand painted segments made during a 2016 workshop with Japanese experimental filmmaker Makino Takashi
Kaigan (2015)
Super 8mm, Color, Sound
An attempt to remove tourists from a tropical landscape, returning it to its pure and natural state
Film
Exhibitions & Upcoming
2022 aCinema Space
Antimatter Media Art
Time/Space Series - Eugene Contemporary Art
Splice Film Festival
Made in Hawaii Film Festival
Peripheries Experimental Film + Video Festival
Experimental Films Online
Fisura International Festival of Experimental Film + Video
2021 VASTLAB Experimental Film Festival
Engauge Experimental Film Festival
NW Film Forum's Local Sightings Film Festival *Best Experimental Short Award Winner*
Tacoma Film Festival
POW Film Festival
Analog Cookbook Issue 4
Experimental Forum
Big Teeth Small Shorts Film Festival
Feel The Reel International Film Festival
Humboldt International Film Festival *Experimental Audience Choice Award Winner*
Portland International Film Festival
Oregon Short Film Festival *Best Experimental Short Award Winner*
Women's International Film Festival (Honorable Mention)
2020 Oregon Filmmaker Series: Creative Vision, presented by the Oregon Media Lab
Engauge Experimental Film Festival
NW Film Forum's Local Sightings Film Festival
Northwest Filmmakers' Fest (cancelled due to Covid)
Feel The Reel International Film Festival
LightBox Gallery - Fantastic Film Show
Black Box Gallery - Black + White Exhibition
2019 Boathouse Microcinema - Feeling Exposed Group Showcase
Portland Unknown Film Festival
NW Film Forum's Local Sightings Film Festival
Boathouse Microcinema - Works In Small Gauge Group Program
Experimental Film Forum (Honorable mention)
Short To The Point Film Festival
Moscow Shorts International Film Festival
Portland Underground Film Festival
