While watching the romantic comedy “Aloha with Love,” which was created on the Valley Isle in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, local cast members hope the audience grasps the deeper-seated values of culture and family.

“This is just a really good family movie. I think at the root of it, it’s a love story, but there’s so many parts of the movie that have to do with family, so I hope people get that kind of takeaway and feel good when they watch,” said Maui actress and stuntwoman Sarah Ashley Rodriguez, who plays the role of the big sister, also named Sarah, throughout the film. “There’s things in it that bring Hawaiian culture to the big screen.”

Rodriguez, also known from “The Retreat” and as co-host of the Maui-based comedy show “The Motherhood” and other local radio shows, said she looks forward to watching and celebrating the the new film with her 7-year-old daughter, family and crew friends on Sunday when it airs on UPtv at 1 p.m. Hawaii Standard Time.

“Aloha with Love,” which is directed by Brian Hertzlinger, involved a cast and crew mostly from Hawaii. It also includes local vendors, like Maui Built and Maui Tropical Plantation.

“We are so excited this whole week ever since that trailer dropped,” Rodriguez said via phone from Haiku on Wednesday. “We’re all excited that more movies are coming to Maui and that we’re all getting involved.”

Rodriguez never imagined being able to pursue her acting career on Maui on a larger scale without having to move, so it’s been a dream come true “to live in paradise and be able to do what you love to do.”

“This is my first big role, this is like my debut to TV movies. I’ve been acting for 25 years, but this is the first time I’ve actually made it. I’ve done local stuff and little stuff on TV like a commercial, but this is almost like my big break,” she said. “It’s just been an amazing journey. … It’s just been crazy, a domino-effect since ‘Aloha with Love,’ so I am so grateful for that film because it opened so many doors of opportunities in my life right now.”

The plotline stars leading actress Tiffany Smith as a big-city architect named Gemma who flies to Hawaii to handle the estate of her late Aunt Lani, played by Maui-based actress, singer and dancer Cyndi Mayo.

Aunt Lani requests in her will that Gemma must first renovate the house that has been dilapidated over the years. The will also requests that the contractor be Ben Fincher, played by Trevor Donovan, who so happens to be Gemma’s ex-boyfriend whom she has yet to forgive for breaking her heart when they were 17.

Rodriguez comes in when Gemma confides in her big sister, which she loved playing because “I actually had a lot of similarities to my character.”

“I also have sisters, so just getting into that sisterly mindset is really easy,” she added.

Native Hawaiian actor/producer Branscombe Richmond plays the role of Pono, the father. He relished the chance to film on Maui with local talent.

“It’s a great place to film, and growing every day,” Richmond said. “Getting the local talent and our kids that are graduating from high school, there may be a chance that they start their careers in Maui, go away, and then finish their careers in Maui.”

Richmond, who has been involved with over 100 motion pictures, including another new American thriller movie “The Walls Are Watching” that airs Saturday on Lifetime TV, said last week that “Aloha with Love” highlights a multicultural family that embodies what is pono.

“There are Hawaiian values that are treasured and sometimes you have to come back from the Mainland to protect those Hawaiian treasure values,” he said.

The movie also includes Kamehameha Schools Maui student Kealani Warner, who plays the role of Emma. Warner has also appeared in “Maui” (originally released as “Kuleana”) and “Aloha Surf Hotel.” Actor and well-known local radio personality, Frank Shaner, takes on the role of Franklin Decker.

“As a Native Hawaiian producer who has worked in Hollywood for over 40 years and has worked on Maui now for 18, it’s kind of my kuleana to bring projects to Maui and to the state of Hawaii,” Richmond said. “We are driven by incentives to help make it easier to make content, so the cooperation of Maui County has been much, much aloha, and that’s why we were able to start.”

Motion picture productions could feed dollars into the local economy, he added, saying that film could be a “viable industry” for Maui County. Rodriguez also said she looks forward to networking with local talent so that it “keeps blooming.”

And, it seems as the though the camera is already rolling as more film projects will be coming to Maui over the next two years, Richmond said, which means more job opportunities for local cast and crew.

One example is “One Million Dolla,” a comedy starring local talent and writer Alex Farnham that was produced in One Dollar Studios. It’s directed by Maui producer Stefan Schaefer of “Aloha Surf Hotel.”

Other island talents in “One Million Dolla” include Ashlyn Ani, Ray Fite, Darren J. Corrao, Terani Richmond and Leiohu Richmond.

“Maui County has talented crews, talented people in front of the camera — our background extras and our actors — and in conjunction with Brian Kohne, we’ve been able to feed off of the graduates out of the University of Hawaii Maui campus,” Richmond said.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.