Kirsten Dunst and Brie Larson to Receive Honors at the 2013 Maui Film Festival at Wailea

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Wailea, HI (May 17, 2013) – Kirsten Dunst and Brie Larson will be honorees at the 2013 Maui Film Festival, it was announced today by Barry Rivers, Director of the event, which will be held June 12-16, 2013, at the Wailea Resort in Maui. All awards will be presented at the Celestial Cinema located at the Wailea Gold & Emerald Golf Course.

"The Maui Film Festival is ecstatic to announce Kirsten Dunst and Brie Larsen as two of 2013's honorees. They are both not only beautiful women inside and out but are also talented nearly beyond description and uniquely passionate in their portrayals of the characters they bring to life,” said Rivers. “I have no doubt each of their Celestial Cinema Big Screen Tributes will be spectacular."

Kirsten Dunst will receive the 2013 Maui Film Festival’s Pathfinder Award, which honors an actor or actress whose eclectic choices and charismatic performances encourage us all to expand our definition of what it means to be human. Dunst got her showbiz start at the age of three, when she began filming television commercials.& With more than 50 commercials under her belt, she made the jump to the big screen in 1989 in Woody Allen’s NEW YORK STORIES. Since, Dunst has been in over 25 films, including UPSIDE DOWN, ;ON THE ROAD, ;MELANCHOLIA, which her earned the Best Actress prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival and was named Best Actress by the National Society of Film Critics, MARIE-ANTOINETTE, ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, the SPIDER-MAN trilogy, BRING IT ON, THE VIRGIN SUICIDES, DROP DEAD GORGEOUS, WAG THE DOG and INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination, among other accolades. Also exploring work behind the camera, Dunst made her directorial debut with the short film WELCOME, which screened at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and recently wrapped production on the short film BASTARD, which she directed and co-wrote. Dunst can next be seen in Hossein Amini’s THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY opposite Viggo Mortensen and Oscar Isaac.

Brie Larson will receive the 2013 Maui Film Festival’s Rising Star Award, which honors a young film artist for daring to dream big dreams and then delivering brilliant performances when opportunity knocks. At just 23, Larson has already built an impressive career as one of the more versatile young actresses working today as she has moved effortlessly from one genre to another with every project she takes on. Larson was a breakout star at this year’s SXSW film festival with four films showing, most notablySHORT TERM 12 directed by Destin Cretton, which won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize. Other films shown included THE SPECTACU LAR NOW and DON JON and WEIGHTING, a short film, which Larson co-directed and starred in. Last year she was seen in the hugely successful film, 21 JUMP STREET and received rave reviews for her supporting role in the RAMPART. Larson is still widely recognized for her portrayal of “Kate”, in Showtime’s breakout drama UNITED STATES OF TARA. Other notable credits include SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD, GREENBERG, and THE LEAGUE.


ABOUT THE MAUI FILM FESTIVAL

Barry and Stella Rivers founded the Maui Film Festival in 2000 as a jewel box festival committed to the celebration and exploration of cinema at the intersection of smart and heart. The Festival's mission has always been to share exceptional cinematic vision in the service of compassionate and transformative storytelling with a diverse audience who call Maui both their home and their home away from home.

Since its inception, the Maui Film Festival has screened more than 550 narrative and documentary feature length and short films from around the world to a diverse audience of industry luminaries, filmmakers, cineastes and movie lovers of all ages. Over the last 13 years the festivals has been fortunate to honor such talents as Joan Allen, Elizabeth Banks, Adrien Brody, Pierce Brosnan, Tim Burton, Claire Danes, Zooey Deschanel, Clint Eastwood, Zac Efron, Andrew Garfield, Jake Gyllenhaal, Woody Harrelson, Garrett Hedlund, Helen Hunt, Mike Myers, Dennis Quaid, Owen Wilson, Olivia Wilde, among many others.

The 2013 Maui Film Festival Wailea is made possible by the tremendous and continued support of a number of local, national and international organizations.

The 2013 Maui Film Festival at Wailea will be held June 12-16, 2013. For additional information, call the Film Festival Headquarters at 808-579-9244 or visit www.mauifilmfestival.com.