Capturing Mauna Kea at its most spectacular and witnessing unique astronomical events meant years of patiently waiting for the special conditions to arise. My work as an astronomer was also slowing building up a collection of beautiful views of the Universe captured by the CFH Telescope. During those years I developed another timelapse cinematic symphony project on the Italian Alps scored with W.A. Mozart's Requiem ("Mozart and the Dolomites", Silva Screen 2006). In 2007, early cuts of "Hawaiian Starlight" were shared freely with various audiences on our island, in particular at the Kahilu Theatre in our town of Waimea. The enthusiastic reaction from the hundreds of kids and adults at these well received screenings drove us to produce the DVD.

The film premiered under the stars at the Maui Film Festival in May 2008 (right) to a crowd of hundreds. The film received the Experimental Film Audience Award. As of 2010, the "Hawaiian Starlight" film has gained some visibility and sequences have appeared in TV shows such as PBS's NOVA "The Pluto Files", The Weather Channel's "Island of Adventure, and Robert Pansard-Besson's "Tour du Monde, Tour du ciel 2".