Big Island Film ‘Stoke’ Heads to Theaters in Tacoma & Portland

July 9, 2019, 11:13 AM HST
* Updated September 8, 3:28 PM

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Hawai‘i Island road film Stoke heads to theaters in the Pacific Northwest in July 2019, premiering in Tacoma on July 18 before playing in Portland on July 26.

Stoke follows an entitled tourist who hires two wannabe tour guides to take her to the Kīlauea Volcano, exploring themes of impermanence, grief and reverence to nature.

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Stoke premiered at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival in late 2018 and went on to play additional festivals and take home several awards before screening across the state of Hawai’i.

A comedy-drama, the 90-minute film would be rated R for nudity and language.

“It feels fitting to play in the Pacific Northwest,” says Co-director Zoe Eisenberg, “especially Portland, which shares a similar vibe with Puna, where much of the film was shot.”

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Eisenberg and Co-director Phillips Payson will attend the screenings. Both Eisenberg and Payson live in Puna and were inspired to make Stoke by their community’s reverence for Kīlauea Volcano.

“We shot an earlier documentary called Aloha From Lavaland that directly addressed our community’s relationship with Kīlauea,” said Payson. “With that project, we asked our community the emotional impact of living near the volcano and the resulting lava tourism. The inspiration for Stoke came directly out of these interviews with community members both born on island or transplanted, as well as the tourists called to visit.”

Stoke was shot in 2017, but the 2018 flow recontextualized its themes for many Hawai‘i Island residents—the filmmakers included.

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On Thursday, July 18, Stoke plays in Tacoma at the Blue Mouse Theater at 7 p.m. as a special presentation by the Destiny City Film Festival. Tickets and information can be found at www.StokeTheMovie.com/screenings.

On Friday, July 26, Stoke makes its Portland premiere at the Clinton Street Theater at 7 p.m. Tickets and information can be found at www.StokeTheMovie.com/screenings.

More information on Stoke can be found on Facebook and online.