Haiku

And my grandma loaned me my first VHS camera and encouraged me to just do whatever I wanted with it.

And I have five siblings, and we all lived in Haiku in the country, and we just started making movies together.

I was hungry for places to learn more about this craft and to meet more people who are doing it.

And I didn't have too many resources available to me on the island.

For those who haven't seen the film, can you just explain a little bit about the story and then how you found it and how you began to shape the story into the film that is now out?

So in 2021, David Sellers, who is the principal over at Hawaii Off Grid Studio, Design Studio, they're a sustainable architecture and design studio based in Haiku, Maui, a small little place in a cannery.

And they called me and they said, you know, This was in 2021 when energy was quite cheap still, you know, and they were facing a little bit of headwinds.

Off-grid living compared to regular, you know, regular energy use off of the grid was at least perceived to be more expensive.

Mikel Calo has the story.

The Boo Boo Zoo in Ha'iku is home to more than 1,000 animals, and while they all survived, the refuge says it now faces tens of thousands of dollars in repairs.

We were out there at night just checking on the animals.

They seemed to all be safe in the stalls.

And, um, they were all windsurfers, 'cause Maui was kind of the pinnacle of windsurfing in the '80s.

And there was this place up on the cliffs just outside of Paia before Haiku, and they'd l- go down and look as the point breaks.

This cliff came out, and underneath the water, it was just, it would face this wave when it comes in on the north shore.

It hits this and just stands up, and then it breaks left and right, and it's just a monster, 60, 70 feet sometimes.

After that outburst, Frizzen was removed from court, as you can see.

The 54-year-old was found guilty of reckless manslaughter for the fatal attack of Steven Holm in Haiku in 2022.

Frizzen's attorneys say that he is insane and belongs in a mental hospital, not in a prison.

Apart from his outburst in court today, from the accusations of people in conflict with him, he earned a college degree and a real estate license.

Interesting.

Yeah, she actually lives in Haiku, lost power for a few days, and talked about the damage to her farm up in Olinda as well.

I spoke with Ulupalakua resident Lily Diamond, and she just shared, described, you know, taking shelter under this large wooden table as trees, huge trees were falling all around her.

The wind was whipping branches, breaking through the windows of this workshop building where she was sheltering during the storm on Saturday night.

Joel Winnicky, he owns Maui Grown Tomatoes.

He and his wife described driving home to their farm in Olindaf I'm sorry, to their home in Olinda.

They were at their farm in Haiku during, you know, prepping for the storm on Saturday afternoon.

And as they were driving home that evening trying to get home to their kids, a power line fell right in front of them.