The 15th Maui Film Festival gets underway today, Wednesday June 4th. This is the earliest start date for the Film Festival in its history. Perhaps, the organizers wanted to get a jump on things because they have such a particularly good event lined up for island residents and visitors.

We put together a list of five things to look forward to at the Maui Film Festival.

• • International Talent. The Festival annually honors some of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars with a series of Tributes. This year is no exception. This year the festival will provide awards to Golden Globe Nominee Evan Rachel Wood; rising star Emma Roberts; Oscar Winner Lupita Nyongo; and actor, writer and Director Joe Mangienello.
  • Local talent. Shep Gordon is another festival honoree lauded for his influence in the Music industry, Film Industry and the Celebrity Chef movement. He has called Maui home for a number of years. The biographical film directed by Mike Meyers, Super Mensch will be playing at the Seaside Cinema. Gordon is one of many talented Maui Residents who will be featured on the Big Screen. A variety of talented island water athletes will be appearing in films. One of the more notable features is XOXO which looks at five accomplished Maui Surfer girls and their efforts to give back to the community. Maui Resident and American Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin is the subject of the documentary Even Though The Whole World is Burning. The Film was directed by island resident Stefan Schaefer. These are just some of the local residents whose efforts in front of or behind the camera will make it on the big screen.

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• Celestial Cinema. If there is one thing that makes the Maui Film Festival stand out, it is the venue for the Celestial Cinema. The big screen set up on the golf course in Wailea makes for a spectacular setting. The beautiful green countryside of Ulupalakua looms behind the screen. The Pacific and the neighbor islands are behind you, and as day fades to night a blanket of stars emerges above. It sure beats a multiplex where your feet stick to the floor.

Sunset before the Celestial Cinema.

• Seaside Cinema. During the recession years, the Maui Film Festival shrank in size. It went from a variety of venues in Wailea to just the Celestial Cinema and films at the MACC. It is exciting to see that the festival will be expanding again to a new venue with the Seaside Cinema. The Seaside Cinema at the Grand Wailea will host more intimate films, offer complimentary valet parking, comfortable seating, food and drinks. This venue will be the location for the majority of the Festival Tribute awards.
• Food. I would be remiss if I failed to mention the food of the Film Festival. Festival events feature some of the best chefs of Wailea and the island. The open night Twilight Reception is hosted and catered by Capische at the Hotel Wailea. This restaurant is a previous winner of the Aipono Award for best island restaurant. The Taste of Chocolate on Friday night is a sweet tooth’s heaven with eight separate stations of Chocolate. The signature culinary event is the Taste of Wailea. This event features contributions from almost all of Wailea’s Restaurants including new additions to the scene such as Sheldon Simeon’s Migrant and Morimoto Maui. If you waited to get tickets for this event, you missed out. All single event tickets have sold out. You will need to buy a Cosmos Pass VIP Patron to get into the top ticket of the festival.

These are just five of the many reasons to be excited about the Festival. You can check out the full schedule of events Maui Film Festival Website. Don’t forget that if you can’t make it down to Wailea, there are a lot of good films showing at the Castle and McCoy Theaters at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center. Regardless of where and what you attend, the 15th edition of the Maui Film Festival will be another fantastic event.

The Maui Film Festival is always something to look forward to on the calendar. The thirteenth edition of the Film Festival is scheduled from June 13th through the 17th in Wailea and the Castle Theater at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului. This event brings a mixture of independent, documentary, and the occasional big studio production to some great Maui venues. The Celestial Cinema is held nightly under the stars on the Wailea Emerald and Gold Golf Courses. It is one of the more picturesque places to watch a film on the planet. The Castle Theater is a world class venue with top of the line visuals and acoustics. In addition to the scheduled movies, the Maui Film Festival also includes fun parties, film maker panels and celebrity tributes.

Watch this video on YouTube.

As we get closer to the event, the Film Festival has released a partial list of scheduled films. They have also announced that Elizabeth Banks will be one of this year’s festival nominees. You can expect more announcements on celebrity tributes and featured films over the next couple of weeks. We will continue to provide updates about the event on The Maui Real Estate Blog.

The Maui Arts and Cultural Center is hosting its annual ‘Ukulele Festival today. This free event is held on the lawn of the A&B amphitheater from 1:00 to 6:00 PM. There is a great line up scheduled including Herb Ohta-san, Uncle Richard Ho‘opi‘i, Na Palapalai and The Hula Honeys along with a variety of veteran, up-and-coming and youth musicians. In addition to music, there will be a variety of local food and island crafts available. Come enjoy some sunshine, the gentle tradewinds, swaying palm trees and great Hawaiian music at the MACC today!

The Maui Arts and Cultural Center (The MACC) in Kahului is one of the true jewels of Maui. This world class performing arts center offers three different venues for a variety of local, national and international performers. The McCoy theater offers a quiet and intimate setting of 250 seats for musical and theatrical performances. The Castle Theater is a 1200 seat multi-tiered theater that ensures there isn’t a bad seat in the house. This is the primary venue of the center hosting everything from films, to concerts, theater and dance performances. The A&B Theater is the outdoor venue that accommodates larger crowds of up to $5,000 for top musical acts. In addition to performance spaces, there is also the Schaefer International Gallery which hosts both local and international art exhibits.

Last week, the MACC announced their schedule for the next 12 months. The artists scheduled to visit Maui include Chris Isaak, Ben Vereen, REO Speedwagon, Steve Miller, Jake Shimabukuru, Cake, Boyz II Men, The Shanghai Circus, The Marth Graham Dance Company, Cecilio and Kapono and many more. You can download the full schedule online. In addition to the announced performers, the MACC is diligent about continuing to book other top performers throughout the year. If you are thinking of relocating to Maui and want to know more about island arts and entertainment, I would be happy to take you buy the MACC to see this great venue. It is one of the many reasons why I love Maui.