Maui Film Festival Ignites Again
Posted in events hints of inspiration messages from maui by on Jun 15 2011
I’ll set the scene for you. Stretched out on a beautiful landscaped green, as the sun sets over the Pacific horizon and the stars start to peek out, curled up on a blanket with someone you love….for a night of passion, action, love, drama, sadness, hope and more. Presented over the course of five days on the beautiful island of Maui, Hawai’i are a tableaux of enlightening, riveting, thought-provoking, inspiring (and let’s not forget funny) movies dressed to impress. The discerning Maui Film Festival brainiacs have searched for these cinematic gems high and low, evaluated and carefully selected…only the best for their festival attendees! When the screen goes dark, the local restaurants light up with glitz, glam and fabulous fashionista parties. There is no better event in the Pacific Islands than the Maui Film Festival.
I have had the honor and privilege for the past two years of being recruited to assist the PR and promotions team of the Maui Film Festival, led by the beautiful and effervescent Katie McMillan. As we sat in the press room today, cell phones abuzz, tickets flying around, communications dispersing around the world with the continued touches of buttons (thanks to social media director Sara Tekula with guest appearance by Peter Liu), it was hard to not get aTWITTERED up over all of the excitement.
So, without further ado, and based on nothing other than my personal inclinations toward cinema, I present the Grace Delivers picks of the 2011 Maui Film Festival. Be there, or be….unenlightened. (* Credit to Maui Film Festival website for film overviews.)
A DEEPER SHADE OF BLUE: WEDNESDAY JUNE 15th 8:00 PM CELESTIAL CINEMA
This is not a surf movie. It is an extremely detailed and informative study of the evolution of the surfboard and of surf culture, beginning and ending in Hawai‘i. It tells you everything you need and ought to know about the people and the innovations of the sport.
(Psst. This is a kick-ass surf movie loaded with vintage clips and voluptuous tubes shot from every angle including underneath. Check out the lethal mutant waves smashing against rocks in ice-cold Tasmania, surfers wiping out repeatedly in the dark-green, oily-looking monsters. Wow after wow.)
See trailer here.
BALI: LIFE IS AN OFFERING: THURSDAY JUNE 16th 10:00 PM CELESTIAL CINEMA
In Bali, anything involving death is a festivity, for death is a victory—a return to our home, from which we quickly springboard back into our next incarnation.
This film goes way beyond mere documentation. It reaches for a fusion between the island’s profound wisdom and the need of outsiders to find a role and a healing in this anciently innocent world. There’s a new culture being born here, the offspring of Balinese spirituality after having embraced the emotional hunger of who have come to this (we hope) enduring temple of humanity.
See trailer here.
HAPPY: FRIDAY JUNE 17th 6:30 PM CASTLE THEATRE
U.S. citizens have an “inalienable right” to be happy (says the Declaration of Independence), but they aren’t exactly exercising that right. On the list of happy countries, the U.S. with all its gas barbecue grills and smartphone apps is only number 25. In this film we meet a Kolkata rickshaw driver who’s happier than most residents of Beverly Hills. What’s up with that?
In your heart you know the answer, but for clarity’s sake you have this internationally searching and richly inspiring documentary. Created by the Academy Award-nominated director of Ghengis Blues with the enthusiastic backing of the director of Liar, Liar and Bruce Almighty, this film pursues every possible answer to mankind’s number-one emotional question (“What is happiness?”) by consulting everyone from happiness-studies scholars to the endemic “Bushmen” of the South African wilderness.
See trailer here.
THE VOICE OF XINGU: SATURDAY JUNE 18th 3:00 PM CASTLE THEATRE
People of conscience know that we should respect and preserve indigenous cultures and pristine ecosystems. But how many people actually put themselves on the front lines of the struggle and dedicate themselves to a specific people and place? Here’s one for sure—a lifeguard at Ho‘okipa State Park who recently traveled into the western wilderness of Brazil to demonstrate in support of the Xingu people. A proposed dam and hydroelectric power plant now threaten the lives and culture of these forest natives. This Maui man’s form of protest? A stand-up paddle run down the Xingu River and a film to document his efforts. Welcome to that film.
See trailer here.
TROUT FISHING AFGHANISTAN: SUNDAY JUNE 19th 1:00 PM CASTLE THEATRE
No one could possibly take a handycam on a fishing trip to remote Afghanistan and live to tell the tale, but one crusty ex-SEAL did just that, shot an opium cook-off, then gave the images to our Eric Gilliom. OMG.
While on a trout fishing expedition (yes, trout fishing…no joke) in Afghanistan in 2007, George, a retired Navy SEAL, is put into harm’s way when he captures the country’s largest opium harvest on film. Well into the US invasion of Afghanistan and at a time when Taliban insurgency has regained strength, George must disguise himself for safe passage while attempting to smuggle the footage out of the country.
Armed with only a translator, a heavily armored vehicle, and a handy-cam purchased from the airport gift shop, George disguises himself as a def-mute Turkish contractor and begins his journey. Landing in Kabul, George travels north to Feyzabad, and then off to “Ruby Valley” where he gains access to film Afghani opium drug operations. From harvest to cook-off, the opium is transformed into what is then sold on the streets as heroin.
This short documentary is considered by some to be an artistic metaphor of the stark difference between good and evil. Striking images of purity and beauty exude from the children and land of Ruby Valley; yet contrast so heavily with the permeating unjust co-existence of the war on terrorism, the war on freedom, and the war on drugs.
George gives us a relevant glimpse into what is just another day, and a way of life, for the Afghani people.
See trailer here.
OXBOW WALLS OF PERCEPTION: SUNDAY JUNE 19th 7:30 PM CELESTIAL CINEMA
(Ok, I am partial…kudos to some of the stars of this film…Grace Delivers client Levi Siver of +H20 and additional participating athletes Kai Lenny and Matt Meola in the upcoming +H20 and Six Senses Resort and Spa WATERMEN 2011 event in Laamu, Maldives September 30-October 4)
There is no wrong way to ride a wave.
Last year Matt Meola, born and raised in Ha’iku, shot from unknown surfer to one of the most recognized names in the sport when he won the Innersection “free surf” video contest. His aerial spins and his disregard for the usual Ho’okipa-style segregation of board surfing from wind surfing betokened a new spirit in the world of wave-riding and earned him a hunk of cash.
Matt is featured here along with six other new-breed watermen. Produced by Oxbow, a surfwear and surf-lifestyle company, this film gives evidence of a new spirit moving on the waters. It’s time to knock down certain “walls of perception” about the ever-changing world of surfing. Kai Lenny, for example, is current world champion at stand-up surfing. But he is quite willing to charge 40-plus-foot faces at Jaws, Pe’ahi. Just as all the other watermen featured in this amazing doc push the boundaries of their own talent in equally challenging waves with power, grace and style.
Shot on location in the Hawaiian Islands, France, Tahiti, Australia, and elsewhere, the film brings all the talents together in the Marshall Islands, a “magic playground” where these innovative athletes engage in every mode of wave-riding.
When you’re living life to the fullest, there’s not much of a line between what you dream and what you do when you get rolling in the morning. Proof of that: these up-close encounters with seven young, independent shoreline gymnasts.
See trailer here.
With such a variety of stellar masterpieces, you cannot go wrong. Check out the full schedule here, and see you at the movies!
PS….don’t forget the parties and special events! Tickets selling fast. See links below.
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