Jack Johnson’s “SURFILMUSIC” features surf, film and music. Courtesy photo

In the new documentary “SURFILMUSIC,” opening the inaugural Wailuku Film Festival on June 17, Oahu resident Jack Johnson was asked how he became so big. Johnson humbly responded, “I actually don’t know.”

With more than 25 million albums sold worldwide, Johnson is known for iconic songs like “Upside Down” and “Better Together,” but he initially came to fame on Oahu through Pipeline surfing. After he suffered a serious injury, he turned to filmmaking.

Directed by Emmett Malloy, “SURFILMUSIC” revisits the making of Johnson’s early surf films “Thicker Than Water” and “The September Sessions.”

As the title indicates, it’s broken into three distinctive parts: surf, film and music.

“Malloy’s gorgeously shot film examines how each of these aspects of Johnson’s life begets the other and still influences everything Johnson does,” noted The Pop Break. “We watch how his days as a young surfer in Hawaii directly influenced his foray into filmmaking, and how his downtime during filming was the launch pad for his music.”

Combining rare footage from his early years with personal and family archives, it seamlessly blends the past and present. “I’ve always surfed and I’ve always wanted to surf,” Johnson explained in the film. “Every other creative process waxes and wanes, but I’m surfing through that whole time.”

Johnson is a committed philanthropist who has donated over $30 million to charity since 2001. In response to the recent floods in the islands, Johnson and his wife Kim Johnson, the Johnson ʻOhana Foundation and Patagonia’s Holdfast Collective, donated $500,000 to support recovery efforts.

In conjunction with the film, the “SURFILMUSIC” soundtrack features the original score by Jack Johnson and Hermanos Gutiérrez, alongside remastered selections from his early four-track recordings.

As a special event at the Wailuku Film Festival, the Inflatable Film Showcase on June 20 highlights the work of Maui filmmakers Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday.

The evening will include the screening of “Uncle Bully’s Surf Skool,” which won the Audience Award for best documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival, a pitch reel of a new documentary on Kula-based musician and luthier Steve Grimes, a live performance by Grimes, and a talk by the filmmakers.

“We’re local filmmakers making content that gets shared all over the world and we care about social impact and education,” said Warshawski. “We’ll talk a bit about filmmaking as a business and what kinds of projects we work on and what we do to sustain business on Maui.”

The Inflatable Film Showcase at the Wailuku Film Festival will include the screening of “Uncle Bully’s Surf Skool.” Courtesy photo

“Uncle Bully’s Surf Skool” focuses on the work of Lahaina surf instructor Bull Kotter and his mentorship of underserved youth during the pandemic. Based in Kula, Warshawski and Soliday began chronicling Robert “Bully” Kotter’s inspiring work with local children who lived in Lahaina encampments and his free surf lessons in 2020. The fires destroyed Kotter’s home and business, and threatened many of the encampments where the children lived.

“Bully was mentoring and helping out a lot of the homeless youth on Maui,” Warshawski said.

The documentary will be released digitally on June 20 and will soon be seen on Hawaiian Airlines flights to the islands. Kotter and his wife, Ashley Weldon, will attend the showcase and participate in a Q&A.

In 2000, Warshawski and Todd Soliday began work on the doc “One Grand” on Grimes. The project is finished, but they are seeking funds to complete editing. “We’ve shot everything, and we thought it would be nice to share the pitch reel, and then Steve’s going to play.”

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.

The couple is also working on a new feature-length doc, “Chasing Ithaca,” about a group of rowers who set a world record crossing the North Atlantic. The Inflatable Film Showcase will be presented at 5:30 p.m. June 20 in the Naylor Theatre.