Maui Film Festival: Glamorous Stars, Life-Affirming Films, Fantastic Food

Living on Maui is a tough gig. Sunny days and starry nights come and go as gently as the slopes of Haleakala flow down to the Pacific. After a busy day at work, our blood pressure drops within minutes of planting chairs on the sand and gazing at the ocean’s ceaseless waves.

Poor us. We’re so out of shape! All that calm means that we’re not physiologically prepared for too much excitement. That’s why we get so worked up twice a year when Maui’s pace picks up. Our hearts go pitter pat. If we had antennae, they’d stand up straight …

… Once in the fall, when we see our first humpback whale from our lanai.

… And again in May, when the Maui Film Festival starts selling tickets to their five-day mid-June pleasure spree.

Sitting out under the Wailea stars and watching a movie is a sensual, soul-stirring experience. We highly recommend the Maui Film Festival.

When I arrived on Maui half a decade ago and first heard about the film festival, I snorted out loud. Watching a movie on a screen on a golf course? I grew up in a drive-in theater town, and I remember heat, tinny sound, and bad food.

“No, no, no! It’s magical!” said my sweetie, who’s been here for two decades. “There’s nothing like sitting out under the stars in Wailea and watching a beautiful movie. You will love it,” James promised. “The night air in June is the perfect temperature; you don’t get too cold, you’re never too hot. And Barry Rivers (the Festival Director) picks great films.”

As usual, my husband was right. The Maui Film Festival is as magical as Maui is.

You can see movies in several locations during the festival, including the ultra-luxe Castle Theater at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. But I can’t help but prefer the picnic/sleepover vibe at the Celestial Cinema in Wailea.

The festival erects a gigantic movie screen on the golf course. Huge speakers surround (and produce incredible, theater-quality audio). It takes a lot of juice to run these high-powered electronics … and it’s provided in large part by solar energy. The empty green is a putting range by day, but at night during the festival it turns into a checkerboard of blankets and beach chairs, each inhabited by joyous locals and visitors ready to get their yearly dose of visual inspiration.

Maui is a positive place – sometimes relentlessly so – and the films at the Festival tend toward the stirring, sensual, and life-affirming. Sitting under the stars and watching big, beautiful movies is – in one word – fulfilling.

The stars who attend look rested and refreshed – and are often flower bedecked. (The Festival calls them “luminaries,” not “celebrities.”)

The panel discussions are fascinating – often interesting enough that we take off time from work to attend (I can hear our friends gasping out loud as I type that).

From the hula dancers to the over-the-top foodie events (more on those later) to the luscious tours of the night’s sky from local astronomer-poet Harriet Witt to the films themselves, we cannot make our recommendation strongly enough: get a pass to the Maui Film Festival.

The full schedule of events is still being worked out, but you can get a sneak peek at the Celestial Cinema’s offerings here.

And don’t forget the Taste of Wailea – our favorite food event on Maui.

Have you attended the Film Festival? Feel free to leave your memories below…