News Flash

Maui’s newest Film Commissioner Brian Kohne is an award-winning motion picture writer/director/producer (Get A Job, Kuleana), music producer (Barefoot Natives, Willie K, Eric Gilliom), and playwright (White Hawaiian) whose family moved to Maui from Detroit, Michigan in 1969. As a five-year old in his first week on island, he visited the set of Michener’s The Hawaiians starring Charlton Heston and Geraldine Chaplin, which set in motion a deep-seated interest in the movies. 

An ’82 Baldwin High graduate and Art and Radio/TV/Film alumnus of San Jose State, he returned to Maui in ’05 from Silicon Valley, having excelled as a national director of sales and marketing, a senior user interface architect for an interactive television corporation, in sports broadcasting, and corporate video production. Kohne is a tenured associate professor who established the Academy for Creative Media at University of Hawaii Maui College, where he works directly with graduates and also teaches Comedy, Screenwriting, and Storytelling. Among the first from the island to play soccer in college, he is focused on infrastructure, workforce development, education, and creating unique opportunities for island creatives while establishing Maui as the premier location for independent production in the Pacific.

The State of Hawai’i is helping fund selected film projects! The Application Deadline is fast approaching on March 21, 2025, so don’t delay! For more, visit CID Hawaii.

For more, visit: https://cid.hawaii.gov/main/calling-for-film-project-submissions/.

Check out this STORY from our friends at Hawaii News Now.

Here is the link to the solicitation: Hawaii Awards & Notices Data System

Hisako Film Lab is a filmmaking education organization providing hands-on instruction and resources to Maui’s youth. Their programs are designed to build foundational and in-depth film production skills, focusing on storytelling as a way to process and celebrate what makes us unique – our personal histories, cultures, quirks, and the things we think about often but don’t regularly say out loud. Their goal is to create an accepting, fun space where young people can discover and amplify their creative voices through the powerful tools of filmmaking.

A registered non-profit organization, Hisako Film Lab was founded by Maui-born-and-raised filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, known for directing Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and currently helming Spiderman 4. Local operations on Maui are directed by Brad Kester, a filmmaker and credentialed teacher who has mentored aspiring film students for over 10 years.

Hisako Film Lab is thrilled to support existing film and media programs both in and out of school campuses throughout Maui and also seek to fill gaps where programming isn’t currently available.

For more, visit: Hisako Film Lab