This Week on Maui | June 14-20

The big event this week on Maui is the annual Maui Film Festival, which runs from June 16-20. Screenings and events take place in Wailea at the open air "Celestial Cinema" as well as at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center's Castle Theater.

Each year, a number of films focus on Hawaii and Hawaiian issues, and this year is no exception. Films include The Watermen Experience, about tow-in surfing, Ho'okele Wa'a (Turning the Canoe), Hana Surf Girls, Poi Dogs, and more.

Visit http://www.mauifilmfestival.com/ for a complete listing of films, information on tickets, and a schedule of all the wonderful non-film events happening as well.

Ko'olau: A True Story of Kaua'i at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center

There are still tickets available for this Sunday's 5:00PM performance at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, Ko'olau: A True Story of Kaua'i. This looks like it is going to be a fantastic show, a blending of Hawaiian history, puppetry, video projection, live music, and vivid storytelling.

The work is the brainchild of Hawaiian-born (and now New York-based) director Tom Lee; it tells the true story of Kaluaiko'olau, a native Hawaiian paniolo with Hansen's Disease, who resisted forced exile to Kalaupapa in the 1890s, hiding with his family in Kaua'i's Ko 'olau Valley.  Its text is taken from Francis Frazier's powerful, poetic translation from the original words of Pi'ilani, the wife of Kaluaiko'olau.

The New York Times called the show "beautifully conceived and performed. Tom Lee's production...not only reveals its lyrical beauty, but through its rich combination of music, film, and puppet animation, brings out the sadness and strength at its core."


Tickets are still available at MACC box office or on their website at https://www.mauiarts.org/tickets/. PLEASE NOTE: The show is general admission and is in the Castle Theater, so you may want to show up early to get good seats.

For more photos from the show, visit Tom Lee's website at http://www.tomleeprojects.com/gallery2/v/Koolau/.

 * * *

For more Maui events and history, follow us on Twitter.

Holo Mai Pele -- Hi‘iaka: Ka Wahinepo‘aimoku at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center

This Saturday, January 30, 2010, the Maui Arts and Cultural Center in Kahului is presenting a unique long-form "opera-length" hula: Holo Mai Pele -- Hi'iaka: Ka Wahinepo'aimoku.

Danced by Halau O Kekui, the work is a sequel to the groundbreaking Holo Mai Pele, first presented at the MACC in 1995. The evening will combine hula, chant, drama, and storytelling to recount the tales of Pana'ewa the lizard god from Hawai'i island, Kapo'ulakina'u from the island of Maui, and the forest goddesses Ko'iahi, Mailelauli'i and Kaiona of the Waianae mountain range.

For anyone interested in Hawai'ian storytelling and/or hula, this promises to be a great night. Last time we checked, tickets were still available at all price levels (including the $12 seats in the balcony); you can check for tickets and read more about the show at the MACC's website.

* * *

For more Maui events and history, follow us on Twitter.