Jeff Wallace finds his energy at 3 a.m. That’s when he starts his day. In some ways, that’s a good thing, since he is a Honolulu firefighter who needs to be ready to go at a moment’s notice to snuff out a blaze or come to the aid of a person in need.

But when there’s no emergency, Wallace uses the time to think and to write. It’s a passion that has turned into an award-winning career as an independent filmmaker. His first full-length feature, “Angel by Thursday,” a 10-year project, has won acclaim at several mainland film festivals for its touching portrayal of families and individuals in turmoil who find themselves linked by mystical coincidence. The film is now available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and other platforms.

Wallace, who came to Hawaii as a child and has been based at Fire Station 13 in Kahuku for 23 years, said he first considered writing a novel, but gravitated toward screenwriting because of its terse writing style.

“You have to tell a story in as little words as possible. Sometimes a whole scene will be two sentences,” he said. “A 100-page script is equally as hard as writing a novel. It takes time and effort, and I just like the process.”

“Angel by Thursday” tells the story of Julia (Olga Kalashnikova), a high-powered attorney based in Germany who’s in a turbulent relationship. Prompted by a mysterious postcard urging her to go to Hawaii, Julia flies over and finds that the aloha spirit is absent upon her arrival — her rental car is more of a rent-a-wreck, but it’s fast enough to exceed the speed limit, and she gets pulled over by a police officer, Clint (Kenneth Matepi). It turns out he has his own problems, trying to take care of his developmentally delayed younger brother, Toby (Russell Subiono).

Aided by strong performances by the large supporting cast, the film hopscotches through various episodes of their lives, revealing moments of despair and trauma, and an unexpected connection. Hawaii’s beautiful landscape, shot from the water as well as from the air, serves as an uplifting, spiritual backdrop to the story.

“What we have in Hawaii is special, and that is the feeling of ohana, and that was the core,” Wallace said. “Every family goes through tragedy, their ups and downs, my family included. I wanted to fit that in, but ­Hawaii’s got that spiritual aspect to it as well, that mystery.”

Though filming took place eight years ago, the actors have warm memories of the experience. Kalashnikova, a native of Belarus who came to Hawaii about 12 years ago to be with her boyfriend, and Matepi, an Australian who had family from ­Hawaii, met while studying acting at the Scott Rogers Studios on Oahu. They decided to audition together, and the chemistry was immediate.

“When you meet your future co-star, there is that initial trust that happens — or it doesn’t happen,” Kalashnikova said. “And so for us both, I believe it happened. There was a click, and we could just trust each other.”

Her character, as someone who arrives in Hawaii from afar, had parallels with real life. Kalashnikova recalled being anxiety-ridden her first few months in Hawaii, wondering what she was going to do with her life after studying and working in highly competitive environments on the mainland.

“I did feel out of place when I first came here,” she said. “It took me awhile to appreciate the lifestyle and the aloha, and find time to enjoy life.”

She describes Julia as someone who is “bitter and possibly angry, possibly emotionally detached and cold, and she goes through an experience where she opens up.”

Matepi got his introduction to acting by answering an ad on Craigslist, which turned out to be for “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” He wound up in a wedding scene kissing the bride. Unnerved by the prospect, he asked the directors if he could clear it with his wife first.

“They thought it was me trying to get more money out of them. They were like, ‘How much do you want us to bump you up?’” Matepi said with a laugh.

He had high praise for Wallace as a director, especially in his dedication to the project. “It was like, ‘There’s nothing that’s going to stop us, even under incredible amounts of resistance, from schedule conflicts, weather conflicts, budget conflicts, everything,” Matepi said.

Matepi found it challenging to juggle his day job in construction — he also has a background in music — with an emotional acting role. “We were shooting on weekends, and I was working through the week,” he said. “I didn’t have the luxury of staying in this sensitive bubble. I had to kind of go back and forth, and it was really jarring, to be honest.”

He called his character a dedicated police officer who is ridden by guilt by what has happened to his brother, Toby. Although there are some violent scenes in the film, their interactions are among the most intense.

“I was kind of a bit rough on Russell in one scene,” Matepi said. “He hit his head pretty hard getting into the car. I think it wasn’t originally in the script, and it wasn’t what Jeff was looking for, but later he said, ‘Actually, it works.’ I think in a way it kind of encapsulates (Clint’s) frustration.”

Subiono, an executive producer with Hawai‘i Public Radio, was attracted to the role of Toby, who despite his disability has some ESP-like abilities, as a challenge.

“It was a persona that no one had ever seen me in before,” said Subiono, who had a minor role in “Hawaii Five-0” and and played “dads” or “bodyguard-­types” in student films until then. “I thought it was a good opportunity to do something completely different and completely the opposite of who I am.”

To prepare for the role, he observed the behavior of a relative’s autistic son. “I kind of took a lot of the mannerisms that I saw him express,” he said. “And I knew it was easy to go over the top with these kind of roles, so I just really wanted to focus on being as young or innocent, as immature as I could be. I did what I could to be a boy who never grew up.”

Toby’s mysterious gift — he senses when people are in trouble — did not strike Subiono as unusual.

“I grew up in church,” said Subiono, who was born on Oahu, grew up on Hawaii island and lived in Colorado for 15 years before returning. “My parents would talk about miracles and spiritual connections, so it wasn’t unheard of to me that someone would have sensitivities to things that you can’t see or touch. I’ve had a couple of experiences where I’ve seen things happen — good things, not scary things — that are unexplainable but are significant. So I felt like this character, in his innocence and childlike ways, would be more sensitive to messages from a spiritual realm.”

Wallace called the film a “true grassroots production” that used local talent on both sides of the camera. His wife, Claudia, and several of the actors took on producing, casting and other responsibilities. With a budget of about $50,000, filming was completed in 2014, but piecing together the complicated story, which shifts in mood from dramatic to romantic to ominous, took six years in the editing room. Wallace then put it on the film festival circuit, where it has won awards for acting, directing, cinematography and best film. It’s been available to stream since December.

Operating on a shoestring budget had its advantages, though. The coconut wireless spread the word about Wallace’s project, which led to veteran Hawaii-based actor Branscombe Richmond and the late Jimmy Borges joining the project. Richmond plays a drug dealer and served as a producer for the film, while Borges, in his final performance on the screen before his death, portrays a beach denizen who recounts the life of surf hero Eddie Aikau.

“We did a casting call, and people that showed up had connections. They were like, ‘I know this person, I know that person,’” said Wallace, who is nearing retirement from the fire department and has other film projects underway. “Branscombe Richmond and Jimmy Borges, they were the only big names in the cast. When I reached out, they were more than happy to help a local production.”