'My Partner' Directed by Keliʻi Grace

The most anticipated installment of San Diego Filipino Cinema’s year-long programming, the San Diego Filipino Film Festival (SDFFF) is back on its third year this fall from October 3-8, 2023. Held during Filipino American History Month in October, SDFFF is SDFC's centerpiece event that aims to raise awareness for Filipino cinema as an important art form and a powerful tool for representation, education, and entertainment.

SDFFF will bring San Diego communities together to celebrate diversity, culture, and heritage through cinema with a diverse mix of narrative features, documentaries, and short films.

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"My Partner" is a story of two high school seniors in rural West Maui who seemingly live in different worlds coming to learn that they aren’t so different after all. Pili (Kaipo Dudoit), an extroverted Hawaiian jock, and Edmar (Jayron Muñoz), an introverted Filipino gamer, are part of a rivalry between two senior-class friend groups at Lahainaluna High School. The rivalry comes to a head when Edmar’s group is caught overfishing a native species in a restored fresh water stream by Pili’s group.

Things get interesting when Pili and Edmar’s social studies teacher assigns the boys, who are in different class periods, to work on their semester project together. Pili and Edmar strongly protest but are forced to work together.

Slowly, Pili and Edmar learn that despite surface appearances, they and their cultures have much in common. As they spend time together working on their class project, they become closer — Pili learning about Filipino immigrants to Hawai’i and Edmar learning about Hawaiian culture and history. Things come to a head when their friends get into a big fight at school.

Set in rural West Maui, My Partner showcases many of the current issues facing its people today.