Oceanbone
Directed by Lani Cupchoy2025 9mDocumentary, Short
Logline: Stolen ancestors lie in museum vaults, waiting to return home. Oceanbone is a poetic reckoning with history, confronting the colonial theft of Indigenous remains and the urgent fight to bring them back. Synopsis: Across oceans and centuries, Indigenous ancestors remain trapped in museum vaults-stolen, studied, and silenced. Oceanbone is a visually haunting and deeply personal journey into the fight for repatriation, where history, poetry, and activism collide. Anchored by a powerful interview with repatriation scholar Dr. Tarisi Vunidilo, the film interweaves the voices of four Native Pacific Island storytellers who channel the spirits of their ancestors, speaking in rhythms of loss, resistance, and homecoming. Through striking imagery of museum corridors, ancestral rituals, and the vast Pacific, Oceanbone reveals the colonial legacies that displaced these remains-and the urgent movement to return them. As the waves carry their names once more, the film stands as both an elegy and a call to justice: the ancestors must go home.
Where to Watch Oceanbone
Oceanbone Trivia
Oceanbone was released on March 28, 2025.
Oceanbone was directed by Lani Cupchoy.
Oceanbone has a runtime of 9 min.
Oceanbone was produced by Lani Cupchoy.
The key characters in Oceanbone are Self, Kanaka Maoli Ancestor (voice) (Lani Cupchoy), Self, Chamoru Ancestor (voice) (Joey Quenga).
Oceanbone is a Documentary, Short film.