In the continuing quest on the part of film festivals to attract mainstream fans as well as cineastes, here’s the latest exhibit:
Zac Efron will receive the 2010 Maui Film Festival Shining Star Award.
The festival announced the honor on Friday with a press release that said the award goes to “a film artist, still in the ascendance of their [sic] career – with many magnetic performances both behind and ahead of them – whose very presence on screen guarantees as much light as heat.”
The magnetic film performances behind Efron to date came in the three “High School Musical” films, as well as “Hairspray,” “17 Again” and a variety of television shows. He also played the lead role in Richard Linklater’s “Me and Orson Welles,” receiving mixed reviews playing opposite Christian McKay’s Welles.
Past recipients of the Shining Star award include Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Biel.
The Maui Film festival was established in 2000 by Barry and Stella Rivers to showcase, in the words of the official festival release, “the celebration and exploration of cinema at the intersection of smart and heart.” This year’s festival, the 11th, will be held from June 16 to June 20 in Wailea. More information is available at www.mauifilmfestival.com.
A previous trip by Efron to Hawaii, for the wedding of his manager Jason Barrett in 2008, resulted in a slew of tabloid photos of the actor on the beach with girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens.
(Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)
