Star attraction for Maui

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau

A big screen turns the Wailea Golf Course into a cinema for the Maui Film Festival. "Nothing compares to sitting back in a lawn chair, being cozy under a fleece blanket, holding the hand of your significant other, the shooting stars overhead and a giant movie screen in front of you," said a movie-goer who attends the festival each year. Photos by Tim Hurley • The Honolulu Advertiser Maui Film Festival Films, short features, documentaries, filmmaker panels, gala events Tomorrow through Sunday at various locations mauifilmfestival.com, (808) 572-3456 Tickets also at Borders Books & Music and at the Maui Film Festival's ticket kiosk at The Shops at Wailea Celebrity glitter at The Maui Film Festival 2000: Silversword winner Tim Burton. Movies: "Passion of Mind," "Bossa Nova," "Chicken Run." 2001: No Silversword winner or celeb awards. "An American Rhapsody," "Here's To Life," "Delivering Milo," "Bride of the Wind." 2002: Silversword winner Clint Eastwood. John Corbett, Rosanna Arquette also received awards. Movies: "Tadpole," "The Good Girl," "Igby Goes Down," "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." 2004: Silversword winner Anthony Hopkins (wasn't able to make it). Adrien Brody filled in. Geena Davis, Rob Reiner and Greg Kinnear also received awards. Movies: "Jet Lag," "Shaolin Soccer," "Thirteen," "Step Into Liquid," "Together."

With a giant screen set up on the Wailea Golf Course, the Celestial Cinema offers the moon, the stars and a dreamy, pasture-like setting between Haleakala and the Pacific Ocean.

"It doesn't get any better than this," said Vicki Schulte, a Maui mortgage broker who attends each year with her husband, Dan. "Nothing compares to sitting back in a lawn chair, being cozy under a fleece blanket, holding the hand of your significant other, the shooting stars overhead and a giant movie screen in front of you."

Schulte is not the only one mesmerized. A growing number of Valley Island residents and visitors are being captivated by Maui's big little film festival, an event only 5 years old but with a burgeoning prestige beyond its years.

With about 17,500 attendees and spending estimated in the several millions last year, officials with Maui County and the tourism industry also are spellbound.

Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa, for one, raves about the work founder and director Barry Rivers has accomplished in developing and marketing the event — one the mayor sees as integral in cultivating the island's international profile.

"What Barry is doing with this project is phenomenal," he said. "It's putting our name on the map worldwide."

This year's festival starts Wednesday evening. Before it ends Sunday night, more than 60 features and short films will have been shown at three outdoor spots in Wailea and two indoor ones at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului. In addition to the films, there will be parties, VIP receptions, food-tasting events, concerts and awards ceremonies.

Among the Hollywood celebrities scheduled to attend are Angela Bassett and Woody Harrelson.

The festival is really only the latest extension of the work Rivers has been doing on Maui since 1997, when he started bringing art-house films rarely seen in the island's movie theaters to the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Before this time, Maui movie-goers were condemned to a mixture of commercial blockbusters, action adventures and slasher movies.

Then, in 1999, Rivers created the end-of-the-year FirstLight Academy Award screenings, which last year featured 46 films, including each of the 2004 Oscar Best Picture nominees.

Karen Fischer, managing director of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, said Rivers' films are among the venue's most popular attractions.

"Barry has created a tremendous buzz and excitement on Maui," she said. "He's really built something here."

The Maui Film Festival at Wailea was launched by Rivers in 2000 with the aim of presenting "compassionate vision, unbridled freedom of political and artistic expression, and life-affirming and compassionate storytelling."

It is smaller than the better-known Sundance and Cannes film festivals. Those are industry movie marketplaces that showcase hundreds of films and feature dozens of stars. By contrast, Maui will show only about 60 films and feature only a handful of big names.

Nevertheless, the task to stage such a gathering here is huge. With Rivers, his wife, Stella, and a team of helpers on Maui and the Mainland, the festival has grown to nearly 60 seasonal employees and 240 volunteers.

"People have no idea how much work this is. It is so complicated," Rivers said. "It's like starting a talent agency, a travel agency, a film exhibition agency and more. This is the Cirque du Soleil coming to town. Only I don't look as good in a pair of tights."

As the festival has grown, so has media coverage. This year, CNN is sending three camera crews to Maui for live reports throughout the festival.

"That's big," said Benita Brazier, Maui film commissioner. "Those reports are going to be aired nationally and internationally. That kind of exposure is priceless."

Brazier, a former Hollywood script supervisor who has seen her share of film festivals, ranks Maui in the top 10 of film festivals that don't aim to sell films to the movie industry.

"I see it as a little gem," she said. "This is about loving films and seeing good films. It's a festival for having a good time, for talking film and for talking to people who love film."

Schulte, the mortgage broker, said she's planning to attend at least four of the five nights of open-air Celestial Cinema. If it's like the past, she and her husband will arrive at about 6 or 6:30 (p.m.), spread out their blanket, enjoy a glass of wine and chat with friends. The show begins with a musical or comedy act.

"You're under the stars and then the screen lights up. It's like magic," she said.

Barry Rivers, founder and director of the Maui Film Festival, is credited with "creating a buzz" on Maui.

"It was the most picturesque, ideal situation you would ever want. You'll never find a venue like that. Where I was sitting, there were visitors all around and everyone was just saying: 'Wow!'"

Another festival regular, Gerrianne Sakamoto of Kula, said she can't wait.

"It's a miracle that we have this. I'm so incredibly grateful," Sakamoto said. "The picture and the sound is very, very good. Considering the venue, it's astonishing." She added: "I've been to Cannes. It's an exciting time, but nothing is as pretty as Maui."

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.