Maui Film Festival Celestial Cinema 2017 Schedule

The 18th annual Maui Film Festival will take place from June 21 to 25, 2016, at the Wailea Resort. A full schedule of events and screenings was released today including the lineup for the popular Celestial Cinema (listed below), which will be set up at the Wailea Gold and Emerald Golf Course. The event includes the Hawaiʻi premiere of Kuleana, a Maui-based production by Brian Kohne and Stefan Schaefer.

*(Celestial Cinema time lapse credit:  Randy Jay Braun)

CELESTIAL 4-ENTRY PASS ($80) | SINGLE TICKETS ($24).  Passes Save 20% | Single Tickets Sales Start June 10th.

Celestial Cinema Screenings

Celestial Cinema. File image credit: Maui Film Festival.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017:

• 8 p.m.: Beatriz At Dinner (Trailer) (R / 96 min.): Vanity Fair raved that “Salma Hayek is remarkable in this deceptively deep dramedy of manners about the struggle for humanity’s conscience” in the age of Trump and is a smart, powerful, slyly funny and not-to-be-missed tour-de-force. It’s written by Mike White, directed by Miguel Arteta and co-stars John Lithgow, Connie Britton, Chloë Sevigny, Jay Duplass and Amy Landecker.
• 10 p.m.: Grand Unified Theory (Trailer) (NR / 103 min.): You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to fall in love with this fast, funny and inspired dramedy that takes place over one fateful weekend in the thriving-on-chaos family life of a brilliant astrophysicist. If, instead of some of Canada’s best actors, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Carrell, Olivia Wilde and Owen Wilson were its stars, it’d be #1 at the box office right now! This was the first film accepted into this year’s Festival.

Thursday, June 22, 2017:

• 8 p.m.: The Big Wave Project – A Band of Brothers (Trailer) (NR / 98 min.): Many of the biggest names in the big-wave world — Jamie Mitchell, Aaron Gold, Mark Healey, Keala Kennelly, Ryan Hipwood, Andrea Moller, Grant “Twiggy” Baker and Billy Kemper are featured in this, five years in the making, raw and uncensored journey into one of the world’s most exciting challenges: riding the world’s biggest waves. Directed by Tim Boynton, TBWP, delivers the real deal on all the risk, glory and stoke of big wave surfing.
• 10 p.m.: Charged – The Eduardo Garcia Story (Trailer) (NR / 86 min.): Without exception, CHARGED is the most inspirational film the Maui Film Festival has ever shown. As The Hollywood Reporter’s review raved, it is “A true story about the indomitability of the human spirit that will keep audiences mesmerized from start to finish.” Everyone in touch with their humanity, will be touched and elevated by this triumphantly vivid and eye-opening life lesson in appreciation.

Friday, June 23, 2017:

• 8 p.m.: Kuleana (Trailer) (NR / 95 min.): Maui, 1971. Kaho’olawe is being bombed, a Renaissance of Hawaiian culture and political activism fills the air and unscrupulous real estate developers are trying to hoodwink local people out of their homes and land. Against this backdrop, comes this story of a disabled Vietnam vet who must rediscover the Hawaiian warrior within in order to protect his family, defend their land, and clear his father’s name. From Maui filmmakers Brian Kohne and Stefan Schaefer.
• 10 p.m.: Special Surprise Screening: To Be Announced Soon!
• 11 p.m.: Given (Trailer) (NR / 75 min.): Directed by Jessi Bianchi, this is a global adventure that immerses you in the Goodwin Family’s quest to embrace the richness and diversity of the planet’s natural and human wonders. GIVEN rips you out of your daily grind and makes you question why you are not seeing more of the world while making you want to once again believe in our planet and all the different people who call it home.

Saturday, June 24, 2017:

• 8 p.m.: Dean (Trailer) (PG-13 / 87 min.): Writer/Director/Comedian Demetri Martin stars alongside Academy Award® winner Kevin Kline, and co-stars Gillian Jacobs and Mary Steenburgen, in this comedic, heartfelt, cross country tale about a father and son coming to terms with love, loss and everything in between. Hipster website Collider called DEAN “Hilarious, heartfelt and refreshingly original!” Winner of the Best Narrative Feature at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
• 10 p.m. Class Rank (Trailer) (NR / 101 min.): Bernie is back! Bernard “Bernie” Flannigan that is, in this delicious and supremely satisfying indie comedy slash civics lesson slash pair of teenagers and grandparents falling in love — in age appropriate ways! The film stars Bruce Dern, Kristin Chenoweth, Olivia Holt, and Skyler Gisondo that has been compared to the work of Wes Anderson and John Hughes. Directed by Eric Stoltz.

Sunday, June 25, 2017:

• 8 p.m.: Proximity (Trailer) (NR / 60 min.): Director Taylor Steele delivers this visceral portrait of modern surfing. PROXIMITY follows 8 of the world’s best surfers – 11-time world champion Kelly Slater and current champ John Florence, big wave icon Shane Dorian and rising star Albee Layer, six-time women’s champ Stephanie Gilmore, activist Dave Rastovich, and style masters Rob Machado and Craig Anderson searching for new waves and deeper understanding in exotic destinations.
• 9 p.m.: Take Every Wave: The Life of Laird Hamilton (NR / 118 min.): Director Rory Kennedy’s TAKE EVERY WAVE captures the remarkable and unconventional life of legendary big wave surfer Laird Hamilton through the eyes of long time friends and family. Hamilton has proven himself a true innovator, pushing conventions to the extreme and reinventing surfing — tow-in surfing and foil boarding — throughout his career. Think you know Laird’s story already? Wanna bet? Either way, seeing TEW: TLoLH will be a moviegoing memory for a lifetime.
• 11 p.m.: FISHPEOPLE (Trailer) (NR / 60 min.): A film about the transformative effects of time spent in the ocean—and how we can leave our limitations behind to find deeper meaning in the saltwater wilderness that lies just beyond the shore. From Patagonia and filmmaker Chris Malloy, it features segments on Maui born and raised spearfisher Kimi Werner, Tahitian surfer & fisherman Matahi Drollet, Aussie surfer Dave Rastovich and more.

*Click here for a complete lineup of the Maui Film Festival’s three “Taste” Events.