The Maui News

WAILUKU–Festival favorite, My Partner, Hawai’i’s first Boys Love film and the last film to shoot on location in Lahaina before the August 8 fire, is now available on major streaming video on demand platforms including Amazon, YouTube, Fandango and GooglePlay.

The film stars native Hawaiian Kaipo Dudoit and Filipino Jayron Muñoz in their debut feature film roles, with Dudoit now set to star in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of the hit 2002 animated movie, Lilo & Stitch.

My Partner is Hawai’i’s first Boys’ Love story. Boys’ Love began as a Japanese literary genre that crossed over and was popularized in manga during the 1980-90s, then spread in popularity across Asia. Today, Boys’ Love world-wide following with The Economist comparing its popularity to K-pop.

My Partner–produced and filmed entirely in Hawai’i–features a traditional Hawaiian and island music soundtrack. Grappling with many of the cultural and social issues facing the people of West Maui today, My Partner is a time capsule picture of historic Lahaina, sadly lost to

fire. The film production used kanaka maoli values and practices to ensure all aspects of the production would have a positive impact on Hawai’i and communities represented in the film.

In My Partner, two high school seniors in rural West Maui live in different worlds … but soon learn they aren’t so different after all. Pili (Dudoit), an extroverted Hawaiian jock, and Edmar (Muñoz), a high-achieving, introverted Filipino gamer, are caught up in a rivalry between opposing senior class friend groups at Lahainaluna High School.

The conflict comes to a head when Edmar’s group catches Pili’s group in the act of overfishing a native species in a restored fresh-water stream. Things heat up further when Pili and Edmar’s social studies teacher assigns the boys to work on their semester project together.

Despite protests and forced to work together, Pili and Edmar slowly learn that, despite appearances, they and their cultures have much in common, becoming closer as they spend time together–Pili learning about Filipino immigrants to Hawai’i and Edmar learning about Hawaiian culture and history. But things swirl out of control when their friends get into a battle.

Distributed by Random Media, My Partner was produced by KSG Films and is the feature film debut of director Keli’i Grace, a native Hawaiian visual storyteller. The film was written by Maui attorney Lance D. Collins.

LOGLINE: In this tender Boys’ Love, coming-of-age story, cultures collide in rural Hawai’i when two teenage boys are forced to partner on a school project.