Things go upside down for a Hawaiʻi high school student when he decides to come out to his parents

Director Biography - Keli'i Grace

Keliʻi Grace is a kanaka maoli Director, Cinematographer and Editor.

Often called a visual translator for his innate ability to bring to life

the soul of story, Grace imparts a feeling to each moment in a raw and

authentic way. His film work has included the award-winning feature film My Partner as well as Project Kuleana, Hōkūleʻa and Ala Kukui which reveal his resonant understanding of Hawaiian culture, and he is most proud of the work he has done that shares his culture with those outside of Hawaiʻi.

Director Biography - Lance D. Collins

Lance D. Collins is a Filipino attorney in private practice in Maui. He also researches and publishes on Philippine and Hawaiʻi history, serving as series editor for the long standing West Maui book series and as a

trustee with the international Philippine Studies Association. He wrote and produced the feature film My Partner and is also a Nā Hōkū Hanohano award-winning music producer.

Director Statement

Much of our lives is shaped by unexamined, arbitrary assumptions about how life is—or should be—often limiting the way we imagine what could be or how we can act in the world. This film explores that universal phenomenon, challenging audiences to reflect on how inherited beliefs constrain their own possibilities for action. The inspiration for this short film came from Hawai‘i in 1998, during the debates and activity leading up to the constitutional amendment that granted the legislature

the power to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples.