A group of elite swimmers swam around Maui in an effort to raise awareness for ocean health. Some of the challenges they faced included sharks, 50 knot winds and huge ocean swells. Courtesy photo

The Hawaiʻi International Film Festival will screen some new documentaries at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Nov. 8 and 9, including Maui filmmaker Stefan Schaefer’s latest work, “Epic Swim Maui.”

In July 2024, 15 elite swimmers from 12 countries and six continents swam 160 miles around Maui to bring awareness to ocean health, with Schaefer documenting the extraordinary endeavor.

“Most of July we were on boats and in the water,” Schaefer recalled. “We’re showing the drama in the water and showing sub-stories around the science that’s being conducted.”

Held in honor of Hawaiian swimming legend Duke Kahanamoku, it was described as the “Mount Everest of open-water swims” by Epic Swim founder Robby Seeger.

Ryan Leong, a 53-year-old endurance athlete based on Oahu, was one of the three swimmers from Hawaii who swam around the entire island. The other swimmer to complete the whole trek was Andy Donaldson, an ultra-marathon swimmer from Scotland.

“We faced unbelievable challenges from sharks where we had to pull everyone out to 50 knot winds and huge ocean swells,” Schaefer continued. “There are multiple facets to it. There’s the athletic feat of whether it can be done. That’s the backbone of the film. But then it was part of the U.N. Ocean Decade, so there’s this bigger global focus on bringing attention to the state of our oceans and ocean health. We had multiple science tie-ins too, conducting a microplastics study and also a forever chemicals (PFAS) study with the Scripps Institute from California and Germany’s Hereon Institute. It was the first-ever study of the waters around Maui.”

The ambitious swim was guided and safeguarded by legendary waterman Archie Kalepa and his crew. “We had multiple cultural advisors sharing with our swimmers and scientists as we were going around the island at a pretty slow pace,” he explained.

Interwoven in the narrative are stories from each of the island’s 12 moku (districts), spotlighting local community efforts to restore watersheds and protect fragile near-shore ecosystems. “We are also telling place-based stories from multiple mokus,” he said. “It’s a big canvas.”

With over 400 hours of film, they continued to shoot some of the moku stories and some of the additional science follow-ups, and they finished the last set of interviews about a month ago.

Along with the feature-length doc, which will be screened at the MACC, Schaefer envisions producing a six-part series.

“We have this massive amount of footage and so many compelling characters and stories,” he said. “We will flesh it out with what I imagine will be half-hour episodes. There are so many amazing moments a series gives us a little more breathing room. I think for sure we’ll get it on some streaming platform, and I think there’s a way we can find a global audience. And we’ll probably do something with the new Wailuku Film Festival that’s going to take place in June — maybe show one of the episodes.”

Schaefer’s films have premiered and won awards at festivals such as the Berlin International Film Festival, South by Southwest, the International Film Festival of Rotterdam and the Hamptons International Film Festival. He previously directed “My Last Day Without You,” “Aloha Surf Hotel” and the Maui-set mockumentary “One Million Dolla,” and produced Brian Kohne’s feature “Kuleana.” His film, “Arranged,” won the grand prize at the Brooklyn International Film Festival.

Focused on Maui, with so many elements that could appeal to audiences worldwide, Schaefer said he hopes that “Epic Swim Maui” will be a compelling story that draws people in.

“There’s some amazing characters, and another really interesting angle is that Duke Kahanamoku’s grandnephew (John Kaleimakali’i Clark) was one of the swimmers,” Schaefer explained. “He joined the relay as the youngest of 14 swimmers, linking past legacy to future stewardship. So, I think for Hawaiian audiences it will be of interest. I want people to be excited and moved emotionally, but also motivated to make changes in their own lives, and in terms of policy, at the local and national and international levels.”

“Epic Swim Maui” will screen at 3 p.m. Nov. 8 at the MACC and at noon Nov. 16 at Molokai’s Mango Theater. Schaefer will attend the screenings. Tickets are $17.