HONOLULU — A state judge on Kauai has ruled state law shields independent filmmaker Keoni Kealoha Alvarez from responding to subpoenas or being deposed in a lawsuit involving a property dispute.

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, Joseph Brescia had sought to build on land where 30 graves had been discovered.
He was blocked by the courts, but Brescia sued people he claimed delayed his project.
Brescia also subpoenaed Alvarez’s unpublished interviews and raw video footage. Alvarez is not a party in the suits but he had been documenting Native Hawaiian burial practices.
Alvarez and the ACLU invoked the state shield law, which was enacted last year.
Kauai Circuit Judge Kathleen Watanabe ruled in favor of Alvarez on Wednesday.