Festival director Beckie Stoccetti (from left), stands on stage with Todd Soliday, Leah Warshawski, Bull Kotter and Ashley Weldon at the Hawai’i International Film Festival premiere in 2023. Courtesy photo

The inspiring, award-winning documentary, “Uncle Bully’s Surf Skool,” will be screened free on Aug. 30 at the Belle Surf Cafe in Paia. Following the screening, an audience Q&A session will feature Uncle Bully and producer-director Leah Warshawski. There will be a free raffle with items donated from local businesses, and a DJ will close out the night.

Winner of the Audience Award at the Hawai’i International Film Festival, the documentary highlights the work of Maui surf instructor Bull Kotter and his mentorship of underserved youth during the pandemic. This powerful story about one person’s quest to shape a hopeful future for the next generation is one of the last stories filmed in Lahaina before the Aug. 8, 2023, wildfires.

“Uncle Bully’s Surf Skool” will be available for viewing on Hawaiian Airlines flights later in the year. “They’ve already committed to showing it,” Warshawski said. “We are still looking for funding to do an impact around the country.”

Warshawski explained that, “We have been trying to organize something in Paia or Kula or Pukalani, and the Bella Surf Cafe offered to host for free. Bully and his wife Ashley will be there. There are still a lot of folks who haven’t been able to see the film yet. Even though we’ve been around the country doing screenings, we haven’t screened as much at home for our own community.” Mainland screenings have included the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex in Topeka.

Kula-based filmmakers Warshawski and co-director Todd Soliday began filming Robert “Bully” Kotter’s work with local children who lived in Lahaina encampments and his free surf lessons during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The fires destroyed his home and business, left several of the film’s crew and cast homeless and threatened many of the encampments where the children lived.

“Bully and Ashley are now back in Lahaina,” said Warshawski. “Our hope is that we can involve new community and some old friends and family who haven’t been able to be a part of the project yet. We hope teens and tourists will also join us, as the film allows us to keep Maui, and everyone who lives here, on people’s hearts and minds for the long recovery ahead.”

The film highlights the work of Maui surf instructor Bull Kotter. Courtesy photo

Warshawski and Soliday previously made the documentary, “Finding Hillywood,” which won audience and best documentary awards at festivals, and “Big Sonia,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Barcelona International Film Festival.

Collaborating with Maui musician and master luthier Steve Grimes, the filmmakers also honored Lahaina by creating a seven-minute video for his inspirational song “Lahaina Town.” They have completed filming a documentary about Grimes and are seeking funding to edit it. “We’re still trying to find funding to finish that film,” she said.