Documenting Resilience
After the Maui wildfire destroyed Lahaina and claimed 102 lives in August 2023, filmmaker Laurel Tamayo ’17 threw herself into a very personal passion project, her debut documentary “Healing Lahaina,” about the loss of her grandparents’ home in the fire. Months later, in January 2025, another catastrophic blaze – the Palisades Fire – ravaged Los Angeles and caused Tamayo to voluntarily leave her neighborhood.
After moving to safety in Orange County, Tamayo spent the early days of the L.A. blaze stressed and anxious, scrolling social media, monitoring emergency alerts and viewing videos of scorched neighborhoods that were eerily similar to the Maui scenes that had been part of her daily work for months. “It’s sad. I’ve been working on climate change for several years now, and I knew something like this could happen. I just didn’t know that it would be so close to home.”
Growing up in Hawai‘i, Tamayo says her family wasn’t the outdoor kind, and she didn’t always have an appreciation for nature. But in her senior year at Punahou, in an AP Environmental Studies class, Tamayo watched a film about human impact on animal species. One scene about the endangered o‘o bird on Kaua‘i hit hard. “I remember thinking, ‘How did this happen? Why have I never heard about this bird before? Why didn’t anyone do anything about it?’” Tamayo was also a student producer for Punavision and realized that she too could make films that would influence other people to take positive action. She enrolled at Chapman University majoring in environmental science and policy with a minor in documentary film.
Tamayo was living and working in L.A. when the Lahaina fire started in August 2023. Maui was a beloved second home where she had spent many summers and vacations with extended family. “It was very scary because cell service was down for most of Lahaina, and so we were only hearing from some of my family members once every 12 hours,” she recalled. A family home where her grandparents, aunty, uncle and cousins lived was one of 2,200 structures destroyed in Lahaina. “My grandpa actually built the house himself with some other relatives, and so it was a very special place,” said Tamayo.
The idea to document her family’s story came months later, when a friend suggested she make a film about Lahaina. Tamayo worried that filmmakers who were not from Hawai‘i would sensationalize the story, and she was determined to make a film in an ethical way.
“Healing Lahaina” was shot in four days in March 2024. “That was the first time I walked around my grandparents’ property and saw everything. All the rubble was still there. It hadn’t been cleaned up, even though it had been seven months,” remembered Tamayo. She convinced camera-shy relatives to share their story, and spoke with community members who had pitched in to fight fire and organize community needs.
Bringing the film to fruition was daunting for the first-time director. Tamayo crowd-funded the first half of her budget and then was one of 10 applicants selected from 800 for the Pink with Purpose Award, a $25,000 cash prize from partners Victoria’s Secret and the Jed Foundation. “Healing Lahaina” had its world premiere this past October at the Hawai‘i International Film Festival (HIFF) with two sold-out screenings. “Hearing everyone’s feedback on the film and how it touched them, that was so healing to me and it made me feel like all of this work and stress was worth it,” said Tamayo. Her aunty, uncle and cousin flew to Honolulu to be in the audience, an experience she recalls as absolutely beautiful. “I’m really glad that we premiered at HIFF. It felt like that made the most sense.”
Tamayo is hoping for additional screenings at other film festivals, and she is focused on “Healing Lahaina’s” impact pillars around supporting survivors, mental health awareness, climate resilience and disaster readiness.
Reflecting on the year and half since the Lahaina fire, Tamayo says her film’s purpose was to demonstrate the community’s healing. “I really wanted to show where the community was after the fire, how they are recovering and what brings them peace now,” something she also wishes to do for Los Angeles someday.