Maui Film Festival’s honorees include Yellowjackets’ Christina Ricci

The Maui Film Festival announced today its 2022 honorees for the 22nd annual event, taking place July 6-10 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center in Kahului. 

The five-day festival celebrates the art of storytelling with a focus on compassionate vision and transformative storytelling and includes honoree tributes. This year’s honorees are:

• Nova Award – Christina Ricci: The Nova Award recognizes an actress whose original and seamless performances consistently infuse each character they embody with unique insight, humanity and wisdom.

Ricci currently can be seen starring in Showtime’s hit series, Yellowjackets. She also has worked with many prolific filmmakers such as Tim Burton (The Addams Family), Lana Wachowski (Speed Racer and The Matrix Resurrections) and Patty Jenkins (Monster).

She has received great acclaim in her various roles including Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and Don Roos’ The Opposite of Sex, the latter of which she won a Best Actress Award at the Seattle Film Festival for her portrayal. She has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award, an American Comedy Award and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress for her work in the film.

In television, Ricci was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2006 in the category of “Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series” for her performance in Grey’s Anatomy. She also has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2016 in the category of “Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie” for her performance in The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.

Off screen, Ricci serves as the National Spokesperson for the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) and is a member of the organization’s National Leadership Council.

• Stella Award – Lana Condor: She stars in the blockbuster franchise To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, To All The Boys: Always & Forever and To All The Boys: P.S. I Still Love You. The Stella Award recognizes an actress for advancing the status of women throughout the film industry by breathing life into characters that empower, enlighten and entertain.

Condor’s additional film credits include Moonshot with Zach Braff and Cole Sprouse, Alita: Battle Angel opposite Rosa Salazar and Mahershala Ali, Patriot’s Day alongside Mark Wahlberg and X-Men: Apocalypse. Next, she will be seen starring opposite John Cena and Will Forte in Warner Bros. Pictures’ Coyote vs Acme, releasing in July 2023.

Condor uses her platform to generate awareness for causes near to her heart, including The Asia Foundation where she established a scholarship to send underprivileged girls and women to school in Vietnam. She recently traveled back to Vietnam alongside Michelle Obama and Julia Roberts with the Girls Opportunity Alliance, through The Obama Foundation, to share stories about people there who are supporting girls’ education.

• Rising Star Award – Jayme Lawson: She is a breakout star of Warner Bros. and DC Films’ The Batman and Showtime’s anthology series The First Lady. The Rising Star Award honors an artist for abundant creativity to support honest and life-changing art. Previous Maui Film Festival Rising Star recipients include Brie Larson, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessica Biel and Garrett Hedlund.

Next, Lawson will co-star in TriStar Pictures’The Woman King opposite Viola Davis and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood.  She also will be seen in MGM’s Till for director Chinonye Chukwu and producer Barbara Broccoli. Both films are set to release in September.

Lawson’s feature film debut, Ekwa Msangi’s Farewell Amor, premiered in the US Dramatic Competition at Sundance in 2020 and was picked up for release by IFC Films. Lawson was featured as one of LA Times’ and Variety’s breakouts of the festival, cited for her “inhabited, flawless performance.” Variety also named her one of their 2020 10 Actors to Watch.

Lawson graduated in 2019 with a BFA from Juilliard, and was that year’s recipient of the Laura Pels Prize, Juilliard’s top acting award.

• Rainmaker Award – Stacy Peralta: He is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. The Rainmaker Award recognizes a film artist for having the magical ability to impact the dynamics of every project they touch both on and off the screen.

Peralta is best known as a member of Z-Boys, founder of skateboarding company Powell-Peralta and his award-winning documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys.  His latest film, The Yin & Yang of Gerry Lopez, is premiering at the Maui Film Festival.

• Visionary Award – Gerry Lopez: The Patagonia Surf Ambassador will receive the Visionary Award, which recognizes a film artist for their long-standing commitment to inspire and nurture the endlessly evolving tapestry of global cultures into an ever more compassionate and life-affirming planetary community.

To purchase in-person tickets and view the schedule for the Stardust Cinema, visit: MauiFilmFestival.com.

For film lovers who wish to stay at home, 80 short and feature films are available to stream through the Maui Film Festival Speed-of-Light Virtual Cinema taking place July 6-31.

This year’s Virtual Cinema showcases a colorful array of feature films highlighting politically, culturally and socially relevant topics from diverse storytellers from around the world. Passes are available now for a limited time at: MauiFilmFestival.com/2022VirtualCinema.