Cover story by Jody Shiroma, PBS Hawaiʻi

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is the most remote inhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. How does this island community balance its economic boom of tourism with the fragility of its indigenous culture and environment? That’s the question that native Rapanui filmmaker Sergio Mata‘u Rapu explores in the INDEPENDENT LENS film Eating Up Easter, premiering on PBS Hawai‘i on Monday, May 25 at 9:00 pm. This film, a presentation of Pacific Islanders in Communications and the Independent Television Service (ITVS) was completed in 2018, before COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The catalyst for the film came in 2011 when Rapu read a news article about food security in Hawai‘i, which got him thinking about Rapa Nui, his birthplace. “As I learned more about how little food we [on Rapa Nui] grew because building cabins for tourists was more lucrative, and how much we imported contributed heavily to the buildup of trash on the island, I realized that our story was not in food security, but in the rapid development of a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific,” Rapu says.

Pictured, inset: Piru Huke, affectionately known as “Mama Piru,” was a cultural icon and community leader who mobilized coastal cleanups and motivated businesses to recycle.

Rapu introduces four Native Islanders and the actions they are taking to preserve their culture and environment amidst rapid development. A local ecologist leads recycling efforts to tackle the mounting trash arriving with tourists and the waves of plastic washing up on shore. Two musicians struggle to build a free music school they hope will preserve cultural practices. And Rapu’s father, who was the Island’s first native Governor, attempts to balance traditions against the advantages of development while building a mini-mall to serve the local residents in the Island’s main town.

Engineer and musician Enrique Icka (right) works on building a sustainable cultural center and music school using recyclable materials.

Rapu says that while Eating up Easter is a film directed at visitors to Rapa Nui, with the intent of raising awareness of the impact and effect that they are having on the island, it also can bring up larger conversations on protecting the environment for current and future generations.