A PARADISE LOST

A PARADISE LOST

Sponsored by:

.     .

A PARADISE LOST, directed by Laurie Sumiye, is an enchanting, yet harrowing tale of the yellow finch of Palila v. Hawai‘i, a landmark case where nature took humanity to court to stave off extinction. The film unfolds through the POV of the Palila called Anuenue who stood as the client in 1979 court trials. The legal battle leveraged the Endangered Species Act to protect māmane forests where 2,500 Palila competed with introduced sheep & goats. He explains how they won in court, but are still in jeopardy; in 2024, only 300 Palila remain. Today, a Native Hawaiian conservationist struggles to save them amidst escalating threats of climate change, wildfires, introduced predators, diseases, and governmental neglect. 

As the bird’s voice guides us through a shifting landscape of beauty and decline, A PARADISE LOST becomes more than an elegy—it’s a call to reimagine our relationship with the natural world, grounded in Indigenous knowledge and a deep reverence for life. The result is a moving meditation on what it means to lose—and what it takes to save—paradise.