Hui Moʻolelo: Lahaina Film Fest this Saturday; new exhibit; application deadline nears

A special encore screening of the “Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina Film Festival” — a beloved collection of animated short films that honor Lahaina history, culture, and enduring community will take place on Saturday, Nov. 29, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the ProArts Playhouse in Kīhei.

The event is free and open to the community, and has a 120-person capacity. While ProArts is not issuing tickets or reserving specific seats, guests are kindly asked to RSVP. Priority seating will be offered to the storytellers featured in the films and to the Hui Moʻolelo cohort.

These films emerged from the 2024 “Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina” storytelling program — a partnership among the County of Maui, Maui Historical Society, Maui Public Art Corps, and the Lahaina Restoration Foundation.

Led by Kalapana Kollars of Lahaina Restoration Foundation and Anuhea Yagi, the 2024 program paired intergenerational storytellers to record personal memories rooted in Lahaina.

The resulting films share the voices of Jennifer Freeland and her father Haines Burt Freeland, Louis Garcia III and Kaliko Storer, Teva Medeiros and his grandfather Timothy Medeiros Sr., Coach Earle Kukahiko, Abraham “Snake” Ah Hee and Myrna Ah Hee, Reverend Gensho Hara and his daughter Yayoi Hara, Sally Ann Delos Reyes and Lopaka White, and Theo Morrison of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation.

This reprise event invites the community to continue sharing memories and hopes for Lahaina as the community reflects together on its past and future. RSVP here. 

New Kahului exhibit at Queen Kaʻahumanu Center

Installed last week, Queen Kaʻahumanu Center now hosts the “Hui Moʻolelo: Kahului Exhibition,” a new collection that brings local stories and memories to life through portraits by Maui artist Christina Wine. Inspired by the recent Hui Moʻolelo: Lahaina Exhibition, QKC General Manager Kauwela Bisquera Shultz—whose own talk-story inspired the 2022 Ka Wahine o Kekoa mural—helped to bring this new showcase to Kahului.

Each portrait features a local storyteller whose voice can be heard via QR code, connecting visitors to the heart of Kahului through intergenerational stories of place, culture and community.

“As a gathering place for our Maui community, we’re honored to host an exhibit that uplifts the voices of Kahului and the stories that make this place home,” said Kauwela Shultz, General Manager of Queen Kaʻahumanu Center. “This exhibition celebrates our kūpuna, our youth, and the connections that tie us together, offering visitors the chance to explore the people, history, and culture that make Kahului unique.”

The collection of 10 panels — each 32″ x 82″ — is now displayed in the common area on the main level just outside the Macy’s Men’s Department, near the parking garage entrance.

Born and raised in Waiehu, Christina Wine is a Baldwin High School and UH Hilo graduate whose career has spanned marine science, sailing, environmental education, and maritime systems before returning home to Maui. 

“I’m grateful to everyone who has received my art, whether it’s a framed painting or just a lesson remembered in the heart.”

Fall 2025 Call to Artists; deadline Sunday, Nov. 30

Maui Public Art Corps’ + Maui County’s Fall 2025 Call to Artists offers a unique opportunity to transform authentic community stories into site-specific, participatory public artworks that reflect the history, culture and identity of Maui County. 

All artworks must be rooted in a talk-story audio excerpt from the “Hui Mo‘olelo” collection. Hui Mo‘olelo (“gathering of stories”) is a community storytelling and public art program of Maui Public Art Corps, in partnership with the County of Maui and cultural consultant Sissy Lake-Farm. Now completing its seventh cohort, Hui Mo‘olelo participants capture intergenerational stories rooted in special places throughout Maui County. 

Selected artists will work closely with community members and cultural advisors to bring these stories to life in visual, performance, or experiential media. Opportunities include:

• New Media Projects: light, projection, or digital installations
• Fine Art Performances: pop-up, street, or site-based performances
• Interactive / Participatory Works: projects inviting active community involvement
• Mural or Surface-Based Installations: large-scale walls, columns, or railings
• Experiential / Environmental Installations: landscape-scale or site-integrated works

This is a commissioned opportunity, not a grant—artists are selected for creativity and experience, then refine and collaborate to make the work truly site-specific and community-rooted, strengthening connections between residents, visitors and place.

Deadline for submissions: 6:59 p.m. HST, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. Note: CaFe is not open on Sundays in the event of technical questions. Explore story excerpts, project descriptions, and apply: Apply Now.