Wailuku Film Festival

What Wailuku Film Festival does

The Wailuku Film Festival is a County-supported cultural organization based in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, staging an inaugural five-day film festival from June 17-21, 2026. It operates under the Maui Film Office with funding and institutional backing from the County of Maui, and is positioned as a creative-economy initiative within a federally designated Arts and Entertainment district. The festival curates screenings across four distinct categories — Hawai'i, Indigenous Voices, Watersports, and Student Shorts — across venues including the Iao Theater, the newly opened Naylor Theater at MAPA, and the Maui Arts & Cultural Center's Castle Theater.

The core product is the festival itself: a five-day program of 50+ film screenings, industry panels (including Actor's, Screenwriter/Producers, and High School/College Shorts programs), and a closing Best of Wailuku Film Festival showcase with audience-choice awards. Tickets are sold through the Eventive platform and MACC box office, with several programs offered free to the public. Revenue is generated through a mix of individual ticket sales, corporate sponsorships (notably Hampton Inn & Suites Maui North Shore as presenting sponsor and UH Maui College for student programming), and government grants via the County of Maui and Maui Film Office.

The organization targets a hybrid audience of Hawaiian culture enthusiasts, student and emerging filmmakers, indigenous storytelling audiences, the watersports community, and Maui residents. Marketing is conducted through owned channels — Facebook, Instagram, email newsletter, and the wailukufilm.com website — augmented by media partnerships with Pacific Media Group, MauiNow.com, and Akakū Maui Community Media. The festival's strategic value is tied to nurturing Maui's local film industry and surfacing Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, and global indigenous narratives through cinema.

Name

Wailuku Film Festival

Legal name

Wailuku Film Festival

Website

https://wailukufilm.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2026

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Film Festival / Cultural Event Programming

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Exhibition (51213)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830)

akta.pro primary industry

Film Festivals & Festival Organizers (MPADAKAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community & Cultural Screenings (Museums, Cultural Centers) (MPADAKAH), Campus & Educational Screenings (Universities, Schools) (MPADAKAI), Arts & Culture Documentaries (MPADADAI)

Keywords

• Film festival events
• Independent film screenings
• Cultural film programming
• Indigenous storytelling films
• Student filmmaker showcases

Headquarters

HQ city

Wailuku

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Ticket Sales: The festival generates revenue through ticket sales for individual screenings and events, with tickets sold via the Eventive platform. Some events are free (High School Shorts, College Shorts, Actor's Panel, Screenwriter/Producers Panel), while others require paid admission.
2. Government Funding: The County-supported festival receives funding and organizational support from Maui's Film Office and the County of Maui, contributing to operational costs and promoting creative economy development.
3. Sponsorships: Corporate sponsors such as Hampton Inn & Suites Maui North Shore and University Hawai'i Maui College provide sponsorship support, with the Best of Wailuku Film Festival presented by Hampton Inn & Suites Maui North Shore.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

The Wailuku Film Festival is an inaugural five-day film festival (June 17-21, 2026) held in Wailuku, Maui, that screens 50+ independent films across four categories: Hawai'i, Indigenous Voices, Watersports, and Student Shorts. The event also features industry panels with actors, screenwriters, and producers, plus a closing Best of Wailuku Film Festival showcase at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center, with paid and free screenings available to the general public.

Product overview

The Wailuku Film Festival is a single unified event—a five-day film festival taking place June 17-21, 2026 in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii. The festival features screenings across four primary film categories (Hawai'i, Indigenous Voices, Watersports, and Student Shorts), panels with industry professionals, and closing events including the Best of Wailuku Film Festival showcase. Venues include the Iao Theater and Naylor Theater, with tickets sold through Eventive.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wailuku Film Festival A five-day annual film festival held June 17-21, 2026 in Wailuku, Maui, showcasing 50+ independent films across four categories (Hawai'i, Indigenous Voices, Watersports, and Student Shorts), along with industry panels, for individual attendees, film enthusiasts, students, indigenous storytelling audiences, and the Maui community.
• Best of Wailuku Film Festival Showcase A closing-day showcase event held on June 21, 2026 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center Castle Theater in Kahului, Maui, screening audience-choice award-winning Hawai'i and Watersports shorts and features for festival attendees and the general public, with separate ticketing through the MACC box office.

Quantifiable outcome

• County-supported festival with government commitment to creative economy development

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Pacific Media GroupcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 April 2026Media partnership for the inaugural Wailuku Film Festival, providing promotional support and media coverage for festival events and film selections.
• MauiNow.comcoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 April 2026Media partnership providing news coverage and audience reach for the County-supported film festival's inaugural event.
• Akakū Maui Community MediacoreGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 April 2026Akakū provides broadcast and live-stream capabilities for festival events including the Actor's Panel, and co-promotion through community media channels.
• Maui Arts & Cultural CentercoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 8 April 2026Venue partnership and presenter for Best of Wailuku Film Festival, providing the Castle Theater for closing weekend screenings and audience-choice award presentations.
• Maui Academy of Performing Arts (MAPA)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 8 April 2026Venue partnership providing the Naylor Theater (state-of-the-art black box venue opened December 2025) for festival screenings including High School Shorts, College Shorts, and panels.
• MauiOnStageminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 8 April 2026Venue partnership for additional festival screening locations across Wailuku.
• Maui Film OfficecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe organizing body of the Wailuku Film Festival, providing official government backing, funding support, and institutional credibility as part of Maui's creative economy initiatives.
• County of MauicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGovernment funding and support for the festival as a vital investment in Maui's creative economy, demonstrating commitment to fostering local talent, creating employment opportunities, and promoting cultural expression through film.
• Hampton Inn & Suites Maui North ShoreminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPresenting sponsor for Best of Wailuku Film Festival, providing support for closing weekend audience-choice award screenings at Maui Arts & Cultural Center.
• University Hawai'i Maui CollegecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor for Future of Film programming (High School Shorts and College Shorts), supporting emerging filmmakers and providing venue access. Academic affiliation through Academy For Creative Media at UH Maui College.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Sundance Film Festival: Sundance is the dominant independent film festival in the U.S., operating at vastly larger scale with a similar nonprofit/government-supported ethos and independent filmmaker focus. It represents the upper bound of what a destination indie festival can scale to and a benchmark for programming prestige.
• Tribeca Festival: Tribeca is a major destination film festival with broad programming across narrative, documentary, and immersive categories, supported by deep corporate sponsorship and venue partnerships. It is comparable as a multi-venue, multi-day, sponsor-driven festival model in a major metropolitan area.
• SXSW Film & TV: SXSW's film track is part of a broader festival ecosystem that includes music, tech, and gaming components. Comparable as a multi-venue festival with strong sponsor ecosystems, though its convergent festival format is meaningfully different from Wailuku's curated cultural focus.
• Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF): TIFF is one of the world's leading film festivals with a multi-venue, multi-day model combining public screenings, industry programming, and destination tourism. Comparable in operational structure though orders of magnitude larger in scale and global recognition.

Emerging players

• Bentonville Film Festival: Bentonville is a destination-based festival with a focus on underrepresented voices in film, supported by corporate sponsorships (Walmart/Crystal Bridges). Comparable as a smaller, culturally-curated festival leveraging destination appeal and corporate backing.
• CAAMFest (Center for Asian American Media Festival): CAAMFest is a San Francisco-based film and media festival focused on Asian American and Pacific Islander storytelling, directly overlapping with Wailuku's indigenous and Pacific content programming. It is comparable as a community-anchored, culturally specific festival with educational and filmmaker development components.
• Pan African Film Festival (PAFF): PAFF is a culturally focused film festival in Los Angeles that prioritizes Black filmmaking and storytelling, with educational programs for emerging filmmakers. Comparable as a curated, culturally anchored festival that integrates student filmmaker development with cultural preservation goals.

Direct peers

• Telluride Film Festival: Telluride is a destination-based boutique film festival with a curated, prestige-driven programming model in a small resort town. It is highly comparable in structure—a compact multi-day festival in a destination location with curated selections—though at far greater scale and prestige.
• Hawaii International Film Festival: HIFF is the state's flagship film event, programming Pacific Islander, Asian, and indigenous content across multiple islands. It is a direct competitor for Hawaiian and indigenous filmmakers and sponsorship dollars, with substantially larger scale and brand recognition.
• Maui Film Festival: The legacy Maui Film Festival operates in the same island geography with a similar destination-festival model and overlapping audience of cultural travelers and local residents. It is the most directly comparable peer in terms of location and category mix, though it has a longer operating history and established brand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/wailukufilm
• Instagraminstagram.com/wailukufilmfestival
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wallsmith-financial

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Wailuku Film Festival