VIDEO: Darieus Legg, Hawaii

Straight outta Hawai’i, working in the genre of short film (so far), filmmaker Darieus Legg’s use of music, cinematography and art direction is sublimely consuming.  Legg’s former life as a surfer and Videographer/Editor for the Hawaiin television show Board Stories proved to be ample training ground for cultivating a fluid style that often times knocks you over unexpectedly like a crashing wave.  Legg plans to submit his forthcoming short film Jasmine to the Tribeca Film Festival in spring 2008.  Set in the surreal world of Honolulu, the story is based on a Chinese myth about a white snake that protects a wise man on his journey to another kingdom.  However, Legg’s Jasmine is about jasmine tea, an innocent tea master, and afroswordswoman and a corrupt cop – a short riff on the symbiotic relationship between the master of a tea ceremony and his tea.    

For a taste of Legg’s current work, watch Black Panther or Ka La Hawai’i – both cinematically beautiful, yet full of disturbing content.  The juxtaposition of artistic beauty through filmaking with the crass content standards of mainstream American aesthetics – drugs, flesh and violence - leave the viewer to question the state of American aesthetic values.  On top of that, throw in a few unfinished riffs on western imperialism in relation to Black America and the indigenous population of the Kingdom of Hawai’i, and you have a young filmmaker clearly on the path to self mastery, yet still in search of the perfect brew. Contact Darieus.