Hana Surf Girls among screenings set for Maui Film Festival, June 16-20, 2010

Actor, Zac Efron, the star of Disney’s “High School Musical”, accepted the Maui Film Festival’s Shining Star Award last night in the event’s opening-night tribute at the Celestial Cinema on the lawn of the Wailea Gold and Emerald golf course.

Hana Surf Girls is among the many screenings set for the 2010 Maui Film Festival. It is scheduled to play at 8 p.m. Friday, June 18th at the Castle Theater of the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. Image Courtesy Maui Film Festival.

Efron was recognized for his promising career which includes accolades from Sho West as Breakthrough Performer of the Year, MTV Movie Ward for Breakthrough Performance in 2008 and Teen Choice award for Best Male Performance in 2009.

Tonight, legendary surf filmmaker Taylor Steele will accept the Beacon Award before the Celestial Cinema screening of surf film “Castles in the Sky”.  Steele is an award-winning director/producer who has dominated the surf film industry for more than a decade.  The tribute starts at 8 p.m.  It will be preceded by the short film Birthright and followed by Castles in the Sky.  Then at 10 p.m., there will be a screening of Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae.

The festival runs through June 20^th and features films in both Wailea and at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle theater in Central Maui.  The Maui Film Festival also features a Taste of Chocolate event on Friday, June 18; a filmmaker Panel on Saturday, June 19; and a Taste of Wailea event, also on Saturday, June 19, 2010.

Also of note is a screening of Hana Surf Girls at 8 p.m. Friday, June 18^th at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center’s Castle Theater.  The documentary follows Monyca Byrne Wickey, and Lipoa Kahaleuahi in their life and friendship that grows in the remote East Maui community.

For a complete list of screenings, events and a festival schedule, visit the Maui Film Festival website at http://www.mauifilmfestival.com/ .