West Seattle filmmaker Christen Marquez has made a film to tell the story behind part of her name. “E Haku Inoa: To Weave A Name” has its Seattle premiere tomorrow at the Northwest Film Forum at 6 pm, preceded by a “meet the filmmaker reception” at 5:30 pm (appropriate to the Hawai’i theme, catered by Marination!). She explains her film as “a personal documentary that follows the budding relationship of between my mother and I as I try to discover the meaning behind my extremely long, 60-plus-letter, Hawaiian middle name. Before embarking on the project, I had been estranged from my mother for nearly 20 years.” Here are Christen and her mom in a promotional photo from the film:

Christen’s West Seattle roots run deep too: She came here from Hawai’i at age 8, going to school at Schmitz Park Elementary, Madison Middle, and West Seattle High School. Her film has won acclaim, and has been shown on PBS in Hawaii; now, she’s bringing it to a Seattle audience. Northwest Film Forum is at 1515 12th Avenue on Capitol Hill; tickets for the Saturday night screening are available online; if you can’t get there tomorrow, the NWFF website also shows a screening on Sunday.