HIFF gets 'Get a Job'

“Get a Job,” a made-on-Maui comic romp starring musical artists Willie K and Eric Gilliom, has been selected to screen at the 30th Hawaii International Film Festival.
Featuring Willie K as a hapless employment counselor and Gilliom as his greatest challenge, it will show at 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, in the big theater at the festival’s home, the Regal Dole Cannery Stadium 18 Theaters. A second screening will take place the following weekend, writer-director Brian Kohne confirmed, but the time and date have not yet been set.
The festival runs Oct. 14 to 24 on Oahu.
“The producers are discussing a premiere on Maui by year’s end,” Kohne added.
The madcap farce was shot entirely on Maui last summer. Co-starring Oahu-born-and-raised Caroline Omine, now a producer on “The Simpsons,” the movie features local stage actors including Kathy Collins, Vinnie Linares and Marsha Kelly in key supporting roles and an assortment of prominent Mauians in cameos.
Its recognizable faces extend to musicians including Mick Fleetwood, Willie Nelson, Pat Simmons, Jake Shimabukuro, Amy Hanaiali‘i and Henry Kapono. The soundtrack is full of songs from the stars’ Barefoot Natives collaboration as well as other island tracks. The comedy, reminiscent of an old Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis routine, has a strong local flavor, with nuances that will have special meaning for audiences on Maui.
“Get a Job” was produced by Stefan Schaefer, who also delivers one of the more memorable supporting performances as a cross-dressing German job-seeker.
“We are excited to be included in the Hawaii International Film Festival,” Kohne said. “We won’t be getting much sleep getting it ready to show there.”