Local Roots, Global Reach: Maui Huliau Youth Films Premiere at the Be Reel Film Festival

For the centered past sixteen years, Maui Huliau Foundation has worked to empower Maui youth through hands-on, community, and aina-based educational programs that strengthen environmental literacy and leadership. Through student-driven projects and partnerships with community organizations across the island, youth are encouraged to explore their role in creating a more sustainable future while deepening their connection to place, culture, and community.

While the organization now facilitates a wide range of programs focused on climate literacy, leadership development, educator training, zero-waste initiatives, and aina-based learning, filmmaking was where it all began.

Maui Huliau Foundation’s filmmaking program was originally started in 2010 by Executive Director and founder Malia Cahill as a small volunteer-run program upstairs at Hawaiian Canoe Club. Though she had no formal film background herself, Malia was inspired after attending a student film screening at her former high school and seeing the potential for filmmaking to help youth engage with and advocate for their communities and environment. Having been deeply influenced by her own aina-based learning experiences growing up on Maui, she also wanted to create more opportunities for students to stay connected to place, culture, and environmental stewardship beyond elementary school.

“Our filmmaking program was our original program when Huliau started in 2010,” Malia shares. “Even as we’ve expanded into many other areas over the years, storytelling through film has remained an important part of our work because it gives young people a powerful way to process what they’re seeing in their communities and share their perspectives with others.”

Since its founding, Huliau has operated as a mobile organization, working almost entirely through partnerships with schools, nonprofits, cultural practitioners, scientists, educators, and community leaders across Maui. Those collaborations continue to shape every aspect of the organization’s work.

“We view partnerships as essential for creating meaningful learning experiences,” Malia explains. “Being mobile allows us to stay flexible, keep overhead low, and respond to evolving community needs while connecting youth directly with people already doing important work in our community. We’re able to build on each other’s strengths in ways that create richer experiences for students.”

That spirit of collaboration has become especially exciting through Huliau’s growing partnership with Hisako Film Lab, which began last year. Together, the organizations have combined professional filmmaking mentorship with youth-driven storytelling rooted in Maui’s communities and environmental challenges. At the center of the partnership is a shared belief that filmmaking can be a powerful tool for helping young people explore complex issues while building confidence in their own voices.

“It’s been exciting to combine Hisako Film Lab’s Hollywood connections and filmmaking expertise with our background in helping youth tell stories that carry a message and are deeply connected to this special place we live,” Malia says.

The Huliau + Hisako showcase highlights the range of stories produced through Huliau’s in-school and after-school programs as well as their spring collaboration with Hisako Film Lab. These include a documentary exploring cultural preservation and connections to aina among young Hawaiians, a film following coral researchers studying reef survival in warming oceans, and a creative ASMR-inspired parody examining processed foods and changing eating habits. The collaboration with Hisako Film Lab also led to four narrative films centered on issues impacting Maui communities today: language and cultural barriers at a quinceanera, addiction and healing after a destructive crash, displacement following the Maui fires, and tensions surrounding land development and generational change. Together, the films reflect the diversity of youth voices across Maui while exploring themes of identity, resilience, belonging, and responsibility to place.

Over the years, Huliau student films have been officially selected hundreds of times at film festivals around the world, with many students traveling off-island to Honolulu, California, Colorado, and other places to share their stories with wider audiences.

“There’s something really powerful about watching students realize that stories from Maui can connect with people globally,” Malia reflects. “It helps them understand that their voices matter and that local stories can spark conversations far beyond our island.”

This year, Huliau is especially excited to continue building those connections through participation in the new Be Reel Film Festival presented by Imua Family Services. For Malia, the festival also marks a meaningful return to Iao Theater, where Huliau held its annual Huliau Youth Environmental Film Festival for the program’s first nine years prior to the pandemic.

“We’re excited for audiences to experience the range of stories these students are telling and the perspectives they bring to issues affecting Maui,” Malia says. “We’re grateful to Imua Family Services for creating a festival centered on films by and for youth and for giving these young filmmakers the opportunity to share their work with the community in such a meaningful way.”

Festival attendees will have two opportunities to experience the student films from Maui Huliau + Hisako Film Lab during this year’s festival weekend:

• Saturday, May 23
• Sunday, May 24

To explore the full festival lineup and purchase tickets, visit Be Reel Film Festival.