Looking West
Category: Film
Author(s): Makena Saber
Presenter(s): Makena Saber
"Looking West" is a reflective short film exploring the idea of time as a slippery material, something impossible to grasp yet deeply felt as it moves through our lives. The film opens with childhood footage of the filmmaker and her brother, introducing an early sense of innocence and memory. Through narration, the film meditates on the strange duality of nostalgia: how remembering can be both painful and comforting as time continues to move forward. As music fades in, the lyrics of Stairway to Heaven echo the filmmaker’s longing for home. Looking toward the mountains in the American West becomes a symbolic gesture. One that reminds her of the Pacific beyond them and the home she left behind in Hawai‘i. The landscape becomes a quiet marker of distance, memory, and the emotional pull of the past. The film ultimately shifts from loss to appreciation. While time inevitably slips away, its fleeting nature is what gives moments their meaning. Through footage of Hawai‘i and moments shared with her brother, captured during a week filled with academic pressures and obligations, the film reveals a realization: the moments that feel like interruptions to productivity often become the ones that matter most. Looking West is a meditation on nostalgia, home, and the fragile beauty of the present, encouraging viewers to recognize the value of memories not only after they pass, but while they are still being lived.