Anthony Banua-Simon

Directing

Anthony Banua-Simon

Born

1986-02-05 (40)

Place of birth

Bremerton, Washington, USA

Known for

Directing

Credits

8 titles

Anthony Banua-Simon is an award-winning documentary filmmaker that works professionally as a freelance video editor. His debut feature documentary, Cane Fire, was an official selection of the 2020 Hot Docs International Film Festival. His films have also screened at venues such as the Brooklyn Museum and MoMA PS1, as well as featured on the websites MUBI, Filmmaker Magazine, and Hyperallergic. Anthony attended The Evergreen State College and was a fellow at the UnionDocs Collaborative Studio Program. He's currently a member of the volunteer-run Spectacle Theater in Brooklyn, NY.

Known for

Cane Fire poster
NR

Cane Fire examines the past and present of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, interweaving four generations of family history, numerous Hollywood productions, and troves of found footage to create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as "extras" in their own story.

Cane Fire

2020

WORLD ENTERPRISES poster
NR

In 1940, on the dry westside of Kauaʻi, the Kekaha Sugar Company began a six-month mail-order film subscription with World Enterprises, an Oʻahu-based distributor—screening films for workers on their Sundays off from harvesting and processing sugarcane. Varied in style, the films shared a common theme: American power taming lands and peoples of the “frontier” through extraction, an encroachment justified by declared ideals of progress. WORLD ENTERPRISES is a collage of radical possibilities sourced entirely from the original 1940 film program. Recontextualized by Banua-Simon, the short compilation enters a dreamlike conversation with both the material realities of the moment of its creation and the present day, culminating in an explicit “cut-up poem” provocation that reflects on community amid political defeat while pointing toward a revolutionary movement just beneath the surface.

WORLD ENTERPRISES

2026

Third Shift poster
NR

Once producing half of the nation's sugar, the Domino Sugar Refinery was an icon of the industrial work available in South Williamsburg. Within the year part of the building will be demolished for new housing and the rest renovated for commercial use. Two former workers who live only blocks away return to their days at Domino and visit the now derelict space that was part of their lives for 30 years.

Third Shift

2014

Pure Flix and Chill: The David A.R. White Story poster
NR

A satirical archive-based portrait spanning 30 years that follows the rise of Christian cinema’s most visible presence, David A.R. White, and how he came to found the largest Christian production company, Pure Flix. Made up entirely of over 50 interviews, movies, and TV shows, Pure Flix and Chill is a critical analysis of a failed culture war and its prophet.

Pure Flix and Chill: The David A.R. White Story

2018

No artwork available
NR

Moore seeks out a vulnerable stranger and proceeds to convince them he's Jesus. "Seduced by Jesus" functions as a pick-up artist parody, fueled by the creepy conceit of the original.

Seduced By Jesus

2018

Eat up, Bear! poster
NR

Two bears are hungry in NYC. Hungry for salmon. Follow Big Bear and Little Bear's respective expeditions through the city in search of a scrumptious meal. From lavish fine dining to lively food carts – through the simple act of eating – the relationship between bears and salmon enables the health of the entire ecosystem.

Eat up, Bear!

2022

Behind the camera

Cane Fire poster
NR

Cane Fire examines the past and present of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, interweaving four generations of family history, numerous Hollywood productions, and troves of found footage to create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as "extras" in their own story.

Cane Fire

2020

Cane Fire poster
NR

Cane Fire examines the past and present of the Hawaiian island of Kauai, interweaving four generations of family history, numerous Hollywood productions, and troves of found footage to create a kaleidoscopic portrait of the economic and cultural forces that have cast Indigenous and working-class residents as "extras" in their own story.

Cane Fire

2020

WORLD ENTERPRISES poster
NR

In 1940, on the dry westside of Kauaʻi, the Kekaha Sugar Company began a six-month mail-order film subscription with World Enterprises, an Oʻahu-based distributor—screening films for workers on their Sundays off from harvesting and processing sugarcane. Varied in style, the films shared a common theme: American power taming lands and peoples of the “frontier” through extraction, an encroachment justified by declared ideals of progress. WORLD ENTERPRISES is a collage of radical possibilities sourced entirely from the original 1940 film program. Recontextualized by Banua-Simon, the short compilation enters a dreamlike conversation with both the material realities of the moment of its creation and the present day, culminating in an explicit “cut-up poem” provocation that reflects on community amid political defeat while pointing toward a revolutionary movement just beneath the surface.

WORLD ENTERPRISES

2026

Third Shift poster
NR

Once producing half of the nation's sugar, the Domino Sugar Refinery was an icon of the industrial work available in South Williamsburg. Within the year part of the building will be demolished for new housing and the rest renovated for commercial use. Two former workers who live only blocks away return to their days at Domino and visit the now derelict space that was part of their lives for 30 years.

Third Shift

2014

Third Shift poster
NR

Once producing half of the nation's sugar, the Domino Sugar Refinery was an icon of the industrial work available in South Williamsburg. Within the year part of the building will be demolished for new housing and the rest renovated for commercial use. Two former workers who live only blocks away return to their days at Domino and visit the now derelict space that was part of their lives for 30 years.

Third Shift

2014

Pure Flix and Chill: The David A.R. White Story poster
NR

A satirical archive-based portrait spanning 30 years that follows the rise of Christian cinema’s most visible presence, David A.R. White, and how he came to found the largest Christian production company, Pure Flix. Made up entirely of over 50 interviews, movies, and TV shows, Pure Flix and Chill is a critical analysis of a failed culture war and its prophet.

Pure Flix and Chill: The David A.R. White Story

2018

No artwork available
NR

Moore seeks out a vulnerable stranger and proceeds to convince them he's Jesus. "Seduced by Jesus" functions as a pick-up artist parody, fueled by the creepy conceit of the original.

Seduced By Jesus

2018

Eat up, Bear! poster
NR

Two bears are hungry in NYC. Hungry for salmon. Follow Big Bear and Little Bear's respective expeditions through the city in search of a scrumptious meal. From lavish fine dining to lively food carts – through the simple act of eating – the relationship between bears and salmon enables the health of the entire ecosystem.

Eat up, Bear!

2022