Maui Film Festival First Light Screenings – Must See

If you really want to impress your friends at their Oscar Awards Party in March, you should make a point of attending as many of the Maui Film Festivals’ First Light Academy Screenings as you possibly can. You’ll be the most well-informed movie insider present – guaranteed.

(If you haven’t seen The Ghost Writer, it airs this Sunday December 19 at 2pm.)

Every year Barry Rivers, the Maui Film Festival’s passionate director, screens movies that he is convinced are Oscar-worthy. This means that we somewhat-culture-starved-Mauians get to see many movies that have not hit the big screens yet – and many of which won’t hit wide distribution until early next year.

Check out their Facebook Page.

It’s an amazing festival, and we make the last two weeks in December and the first week in January a movie-going-marathon, seeing as many as possible.

All movies are shown in the gorgeous Castle Theater at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, and this year over twenty-two films are screening in Hawaii for the first time. All major film industry guilds get free admission (of course), and everyone else is $12 ($10 if you get a Fast Pass, which is 4 tickets for $40).

Check out the schedule here: Maui Film Festival, FirstLight Academy Screening.

(And yes, if you’re coming in June, you should attend the main film festival.)