USA / 2024 / 80 min / English / Documentary
A spiritual journey through the lives of a free-spirited community living off-the-grid in the secluded Hawaiian jungle to achieve human liberation via the elevation of collective consciousness.
DIRECTOR: Filippella began working as an independent filmmaker in Spain and Ireland. He was accepted to the directing program of the prestigious Centro Sperimentale in Rome and was awarded his diploma in 2005 with his thesis film Thermae.
Subsequently, he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship and completed MFA studies at AFI in 2008. He holds then two masters in film directing. Filippella has received twice the Philip Morris Cinema Award, the Panavision Award, the Sergio Corbucci Prize in 2006 and has been sponsored by ARRI and Fuji.
His first feature was Silver Case. Since then, produced and shot several Nandor Fodor and The Talking Mongoose starring Minnie Driver, Christopher Lloyd and Simon Pegg; Hellfire with Harvey Keitel, This is Our Christmas; Christmas Couples Retreat; and Beverly Hills Christmas with Dean Cain and John Savage; Emmy winner The Bay; Sheperd the story of a Jewish dog; and The Genius of Gianni Versace.
DIRECTOR STATEMENT: After being in Hawaii several times, I was compelled to explore more and travel to the most remote part of all the islands, the off the grid jungle in east part of Big Island. This area, called Puna, has been severely hit multiple times by lava eruptions of the Kilauea volcano.
