Kaua‘i Film Academy’s final cut of teen drama ‘Too Much Life’ ready for screening

It took several years, countless hours, a $200,000 budget funded by grants and a 2016 Kickstarter campaign and the work of about 300 Kauaʻi teenagers, but now the final cut of the teen drama “Too Much Life” is ready for viewing.

This version of the feature-length film, produced by the nonprofit Kaua‘i Film Academy, will be screened for the first time on Dec. 28 at the Kauai Community College Performance Arts Center in Puhi.

“Too Much Life” follows Kaua‘i middle schooler Harper (Katelyn Lopes) as she campaigns for student body president.

The film is about the difficulties of being a teenager while dealing with parents, friends, social media and school. As she tries to win the hearts of her fellow students at Garden Island Middle School, high jinks follow as a colorful cast decides if they will support Harper or sabotage her.

The Kickstarter campaign conducted in 2016 raised $100,000 for the production of “Too Match Life,” matching an additional $100,000 received through grants. The film’s script, which stemmed from film academy students’ own experiences, took about a year to write.

Parents, over the course of a 120-day shooting schedule, drove students to film locations across the island. Some participants graduated high school during the making of “Too Much Life” and continued to work on the film as adults.

The film academy got its start in 2010, when Elliot Lucas, a lifelong resident of Kauaʻi, and his filmmaking partner Sawyer Woods co-founded an after-school program at Kaua‘i High School.

That program eventually became the science, technology, engineering and math-based film academy now headquartered in Kōloa. Participation in the film academy is free.

The long-term mission of the film academy is to create a film industry on Kauaʻi, with a cadre of filmmaking professionals.

“We teach industry-level positions,” Lucas said. “You can be a student of ours, get training and … go right into the workforce.”

Hollywood is no stranger to the Garden Isle: Films shot on location include the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific,” Elvis Presley’s “Blue Hawai‘i” and the Steven Spielberg-directed blockbusters “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Jurassic Park.”

More recently, Dwayne Johnson visited Kaua‘i to shoot “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw” (released in 2019) and “Jungle Cruise” (2021). But when Hollywood has come calling, it has brought its own film crews along. Lucas and his colleagues want to change that.

“Making movies takes hundreds of people, and they’re all doing very specialized skills,” Lucas said. “We want to create careers here.”

Per semester, the film academy averages 40 to 50 students, who learn professional filmmaking basics and roles such as electrician, grip (camera support equipment technician), production assistant and cinematographer. Students have worked together to create narrative films, documentaries and music videos during their time at the academy.

Academy alumni include actor Siena Agudong, who has appeared in the 2021 film “F9: The Fast Saga,” the 2022 television series “Resident Evil” and the Tubi original film “Sidelined: The QB and Me.”

Siena’s sister, Sydney Agudong, also hasappeared in film academy projects and is now set to star as Nani in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch,” to be released in 2025.

Isaiah Alvarez joined Lucas and Woods’ film after-school program as a high school freshman and now sits on the Kaua‘i Film Academy’s board of directors. Today, based in Denver, Colo., with his wife, Alvarez initially left Kaua‘i to pursue a career in Hollywood.

He succeeded and has worked in various capacities on projects like the Godzilla television series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” and “Skeleton Crew,” a Star Wars series starring Jude Law that debuted on Disney+ earlier this month.

Alvarez grew up watching the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS. He was fascinated by the tapes’ behind-the-scenes featurettes, unaware he would one day work on another story told in a galaxy far, far away.

Alvarez remembers when he first stepped foot on the “Skeleton Crew” set.

“Walking through spaceships, walking past droids and seeing aliens and characters in costume,” he said. “For a kid from Kaua‘i, it’s an amazing experience to see what’s out there and what can be accomplished when you collaborate with so many different, diverse people.”

The “Too Much Life” screening event on Dec. 28 will run from 6 to 9 p.m. It is the premiere of the film’s final cut.

“Too Much Life” was first shown to the public in December 2023, but since then technical improvements have been made, and 20 minutes have been removed from its total runtime for the final cut.

“Too Much Life” is also available on Blu-ray and is projected to appear on the streaming services Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video and Fandango at Home in the second quarter of 2025.

The film academy is now focused on bringing “Too Much Life” to market. Screenings around the state are scheduled for the new year. Ticket, Blu-ray and digital sales will support the film academy’s next project, a western featuring paniolos.

“It’s supporting moving the needle forward,” Lucas said. “Where we don’t have to ask people to volunteer to be in movies … The 13-year-old kids that are holding the boom, they’re getting paid to be there.”

To view the “Too Much Life” trailer, click here. The Dec. 28 screening will include giveaway prizes and snacks and beverages available for purchase. Visit toomuchlife.com to purchase tickets.

Visit kauaifilmacademy.org for more information about the academy, including donations, casting and Blu-ray sales.