Brian Kohne: Maui Boy Makes Good

Brian Kohne (center) directing on the set of one of his two feature films. Photo courtesy of Brian Kohne.

One of the first things you’ll learn about Brian Kohne, ‘89 RTVF, is that he’s a Maui boy — from the age of five up until college, the island was his life. In 1982, when he became a Spartan playing D1 soccer for San José State University, it was his first major foray away from Hawaii.

“I happened upon San José State because I had an interest in the arts,” he remembers. He calls his time at SJSU a “real blessing,” adding that he made lifelong friends and cultivated his interest in both film and graphic design. “I spent a lot of time in both worlds,” he says, “and I was in school for seven years.” He pauses and adds, “I had a lot of fun along the way. I think that goes without saying.”

The fun was a major part of his education, but it was also the beginning of a long, meandering but ultimately deeply rewarding path to a career in TV and film — and his way back to his beloved island.

“When I was at San José State I was really active in the television and film world, and [my friends and I] were incredibly ambitious,” he says. “We produced a four-part live variety show during my time there, and during my final year there the show involved around 300 people.” 

What started as interest became a life philosophy. As Kohne states, “I was always driven as an independent to do things my own way.”

An independent nature

And so he did. After graduation in 1989, he moved back to Maui to help his father, who was ill and eventually passed away. Afterwards, Kohne turned away from the film industry briefly to focus on his own wellness. He became a coach at his high school alma mater, and eventually returned to San José, where he found work first as a long-term substitute teacher, then for many years as a communications and marketing professional. But he still always had other goals in the back of his mind.

“I was always doing different things related to the arts,” he explains. “That was incredibly valuable. But then I shifted gears in my late 30s and decided, ‘No, wait a second, I really want to make movies, and I want to produce art and I feel I’ve come really off track.’”

At his brother’s 40th birthday on Maui, surrounded by family and friends, Kohne had another revelation: If Maui didn’t have much of a film industry, maybe it was partly because of people like him, homegrown and well-educated, who moved elsewhere and never looked back. 

“I realized that if people like me didn’t come home and bring these skills and abilities and interests and passions back in service to the community, let alone the culture, then we would be part of the problem,” he says. “I decided it was time and I moved home, determined to create or participate in the creation of a motion picture industry in Hawaii.”

Film on Maui

It wasn’t easy. At the time in 2005, Oahu had some film and television industry, but no one had ever produced a full-length independent feature on Maui. Kohne worked as a music producer to pay the bills and chase his other passions, but the idea of a film still nagged him. A kind friend offered to let him live in his cabin rent-free to finish his script; an independent filmmaker from New York came to Maui and became his partner. And in 2010, Kohne wrote, directed and shot his first feature film “Get a Job.”

“As a filmmaker I’d always wanted to [make a movie]. I dreamed of it as a kid,” he says. “And at San José State I did everything I could to learn whatever I could. Was it music engineering? Was it film? Was it photography, was it graphic design, art? Whatever. [The film] was the culmination of all of that. The irony there was that in my work, I was hard-headed — I thought, ‘I’m not going to get a job, I’m going to make a movie called Get a Job.’ I did, and that set in motion everything that I’m continuing to do now.”

Kohne describes the process as “an educational journey. You learn so much. I was blessed to have a handful of very experienced people supporting me, but mostly everybody on that first set was from Hawaii. That was my commitment to the stubborn belief that we [the people of Hawaii] could do it. We only had a couple of people who weren’t from the islands on that gig. Everybody learned.”

He adds, “Looking back, that effort was an extraordinary workforce development activity. It was an echo of what I was doing in college at San José State. It was a screwball comedy, 35 locations, just out of control, the kind of thing you should never do if you don’t have a budget, let alone experience. But we did it.”

More doors opening

It was the beginning of many things: Kohne’s official film career, the film industry in Maui, various collaborative partnerships and more. He and his crew took the film to festivals all over the country and even internationally to Marbella, Spain.

He went on to many more projects, including a second feature film, 2017’s “Kuleana,” which also featured local artists and crew and told the story of Maui’s part in the “Hawaiian Renaissance” of the 1970s, a rediscovering of Native Hawaiian language and culture. Kohne, who is not native Hawaiian himself, grew up during this era and wanted to pay tribute to the island and its culture.

But wait, there’s more!

And then his career took yet another wonderful turn: After years of what he describes as him “bugging” University of Hawaii, Maui about their lack of a film program, he got another opportunity. In 2018 the college called him, and he eventually took a full-time faculty position there as he built the Academy for Creative Media at the University of Hawaii – Maui College. He’s currently a tenured associate professor and also serves as program coordinator. 

But wait! That’s not all. About a year ago he was also hired as Maui’s film commissioner, a role he balances with his faculty work. This job, he explains, allows him to focus on “workforce development, the support of both resident and visiting productions/producers, education, training and infrastructure.” 

It’s a difficult but rewarding job. “I think of today’s 12-year olds and where they will be in 10 short years … will there be work for them here, at home, in the motion picture and media industry? There’s so much work to do,” he adds.

The visitor and production industries are both suffering after the pandemic and the Maui fires in 2023; part of Kohne’s new role is to help change that. “At present,” he says, “we are working with the state legislature to make improvements and demonstrate to our industry friends that Hawaii is committed to this vital activity and can be relied upon as both a location and partner for the long haul.”

Forever a Spartan

Through all the twists and turns of his life, Kohne has proved himself adaptable. He credits a lot of this to his time at SJSU. 

“San José State was just this golden, glorious opportunity for me where every time I turned around, I was meeting somebody who inspired me,” he remembers. And those years were obviously formative. “Somehow I’ve managed to do all these things: make movies, produce music and live local,” he says.

“[So much of] my life really just sprang from the opportunities and the positive experiences in the Bay Area and San José in particular. Everything was always about gathering and building and bringing people together, and those are skills that I’ve continued to use throughout my life.”

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