"Lāhainā Rising" is the story of the 2023 Maui wildfire, the history and environmental factors that led up to the tragedy, and how the community came together in the aftermath to help each other and fight for change.
“This story is our lives,” said De Andre Makakoa, a cinematographer and producer of the 90-minute documentary. “So more than being filmmakers and documentarians, having the privilege and honor to tell the story, we are very much also of the community as well, boots on the ground, doing the work.”
It’s personal for this homegrown team of Lahaina filmmakers. But director Matty Schweitzer said it’s not just their story.
“Telling a story of an entire community — the weight is immeasurable,” he explained. “It's hard to explain the sleepless nights.”
Everyone’s personal narrative during the fire was different, but Schweitzer said they felt a responsibility to best portray the collective experience as best they could. “It weighs hard on us to make sure that we're doing right by the people in our community,” he said.
The film incorporates their own old Lahaina footage, donated videos from survivors during and after the fire, police body cam footage they obtained, and dozens of interviews. Producer Blake Ramelb said it represents thousands and thousands of hours of work.
“We spent over two years working on this project, and this film — it's not just a film for us, right?” Ramelb said. “This is the story of our home, it's our community, it's our friends, it's our loved ones.”
Schweitzer said they also wanted to put the fire in context.
“We want to make sure that this film is a lot more than just about a fire,” he explained. “We want to educate people a little bit about how we got to this point.”
Born from boots on the ground
Originally, they had no intention of creating a documentary. Schweitzer said it was born out of the community service they were all involved in during the days, weeks and months after the fire.
“We weren't filming for a documentary. We were filming a lot of times to help our friends, search and rescue, see if their car is still there, see if their house is still there, things like that,” he said. “We were crying as we were filming a lot of times.”
But Ramelb said as they saw people coming from around the world to tell their story, they realized they needed to tell it themselves.
“Why are they telling our story, when I feel like, we're the community itself, we have to have our voice,” Ramelb said. “So instead of just the responsibility of making sure our community is taken care of, there's also that piece that… we have to make sure it's told the right way too, and the only way we can control that is if it's coming from the community. And that's what this film is.”
Ramelb acknowledged the graphic portions may be hard to watch and suggests viewers have a support system with them.
“That fire section itself, it was very difficult for many of us. I have one of my best friends that lost his father in the fire, [who] I was really close with,” Ramelb said. “I just couldn't be in the room when we were working on that piece. Even when I review the film, I have to skip over that part because it hurts me a lot. It's just really hard for me to watch. So I know the community is going to have their version of that too.”
Makakoa agreed the process was challenging as the team walked their own recovery journeys while having to review fire footage.
“We were all just re-traumatizing ourselves over and over every day,” he said.
Award-winning documentary
The documentary was accepted for the Hawaiʻi International Film Festival as a feature film.
Seeing it released to the public at the world premiere this week was emotional for the team. Makakoa said the audience was audibly tearful while watching. But the reaction was positive.
“I had people coming up to me and telling me afterwards that they were inspired to go out and do something, to go out and be involved after watching our film,” he said. “And that meant a lot, because that is the main goal.”
"Lāhainā Rising" was also nominated for the Made in Hawaiʻi award, and at a ceremony on Oct. 23, it won.
“When they called our name, it was hard to believe, and the crowd just exploded,” said Schweitzer after the ceremony.
“I'm grateful, I'm honored, I'm happy, but at the same time, I'm reminded of why we did this project,” he continued. “It feels conflicting to be so happy about something that we wish never happened. But I'm just absolutely honored that my town and my community trusted us to tell this story and that people like it.”
What's next?
Next month, neighbor island residents will have a chance to see "Lāhainā Rising" and other festival films during tour screenings across the state. You can check here for details and a full schedule.
Next year could bring more exposure for the film. “We're also really excited to potentially secure a distribution deal with a major streamer,” said Phil Schlieder, one of the film’s producers, from Oʻahu.
Impact producer Keely Badger said in addition, they plan to launch a community education campaign around the film, with the team holding workshops and discussions, extending to the continental U.S.
“Particularly in fire-affected communities, I think this film can really serve as a catalyst for conversation around what community centered-decision making means, not only in the wake of fire catastrophe, but the universal message of this film in terms of communities reclaiming land and water resource stewardship and decision-making in preparation for all sorts of climate calamities that folks are facing,” Badger said.
Ultimately, Schweitzer hopes their documentary will bring inspiration and hope.
“The impact that I want to see after this is for people to be reminded of that time, in a sense, not the tragedy and the loss, but reminded of when every single person you looked at in your community, you were either going to break down in tears, or you were going to give them a big hug and say, ‘What can I do for you?’”
Hawaiʻi Public Radio exists to serve all of Hawai’i, and it’s the people of Hawai’i who keep us independent and strong. Help keep us strong to serve you in the future. Donate today.
