Pa-Sapphic Islanders
Short Film
Project Type: Short Film
Project Status: Pre-Production
Writer, Director, Producer: Kai Macapinlac Producers: Eliana Oliver, Kate Aizin and Luiz Campos
Production Designer: Leena Thach Director of Photography: Izrael Avila
LOGLINE
After their dream job implodes, Kapiolani, a queer Hawaiian tech worker, must endure a clueless startup run by an insufferable man-child while caught between two rival roommates vying for their affection in San Francisco’s fiercely colorful Castro District.
SYNOPSIS
When their dream job at lesbian dating app Scizzr implodes due to embezzlement, Hawaiian transplant Kapiolani (Lani) ends up working for "Homie Hang" — a startup where straight men pay to find platonic friendships.
After being tokenized as the diversity hire, Lani turns the situation to their advantage, securing a raise by gaming a system that was never built for them. Meanwhile, roommates Rina and Sylvia wage passive-aggressive warfare over bedroom arrangements, using acts of kindness as weapons in their competition for Lani's approval.
Between matcha latte attacks from hostile Castro locals and navigating the culture shock of mainland queer life, Lani discovers the "queer American Dream" is more chaotic than advertised. Pa-Sapphic Islanders is a sharp-witted comedy about finding your place when paradise turns out to be a lot messier, gayer, and more complicated than the brochure promised.
MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT
Pa-Sapphic Islanders explores identity, displacement, and chosen family through the lens of queer comedy. At its heart, the film is about what it means to leave "home" — whether that’s a place, a community, or a version of yourself — and build something new in its place. For Kapiolani, navigating San Francisco’s Castro District as a masc-presenting Hawaiian becomes a crash course in self-discovery, cultural dissonance, and millennial absurdity.
Themes of gender presentation, queer friendship, cultural inheritance, and the alienating (and sometimes hilarious) reality of being “the only one” in the room come together to form a story that’s personal and timely. In a media landscape still dominated by white, cis, urban queer narratives, Pa-Sapphic Islanders offers something different: a diasporic lens on queer identity and comedy that isn’t afraid to be deeply specific, messy, and absurd.
As a creative team made up of queer women, trans folks, and people of color — many of us navigating life between cultural contexts — we're uniquely positioned to tell this story authentically. For writer-director Kai Macapinlac, the film stems from a personal “what-if”: what if their father, a Filipino-American from Hawaii, was a Hawaiian masc lesbian navigating queer mainland life? That deeply personal question drives the series' heart, and gives it the specificity that makes it resonate.
In a time where queer and trans communities are increasingly under scrutiny, we believe stories like Pa-Sapphic Islanders offer not just visibility, but joy, irreverence, and radical self-definition.
Meet The Filmmakers
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Kai Macapinlac
Writer | Director | Producer
Born and raised in the Bay Area, Kai Macapinlac is a queer, Filipino-American filmmaker pursuing a B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing with a minor in Computer Science at NYU Tisch. While her concentration is in television writing, Kai has written, directed, and produced two short films centering sapphic relationships — one of which was a Quarter-Finalist in the 2024 Her Vision International Film Festival.She also directed a short body-horror film currently in post-production. Kai has interned in Film & TV Development at Amplify Pictures and The Js, and her work explores the intersectionality of queer and POC communities through an often comedic, character-driven lens.
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Eliana Oliver
Producer
Eliana Oliver is a rising senior at NYU Tisch, majoring in Dramatic Writing and minoring in Producing. Pa-Sapphic Islanders is her third collaboration with Kai, continuing a creative partnership rooted in bold, irreverent storytelling. Eliana specializes in creative producing and development, with a passion for grounded comedies and underrepresented voices.
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Kate Aizin
Producer
Kate Aizin is a rising senior at NYU Tisch studying Dramatic Writing with a minor in Producing. She has produced a wide range of short films, spanning surreal comedy to experimental narratives. This marks her third project with Kai, and she is passionate about writing and producing stories that are distinctive, comedic, and culturally resonant.
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Luiz Campos
Producer
Luiz Campos is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch’s Dramatic Writing program and the founder of Slap Bump Studios. Pa-Sapphic Islanders is his second collaboration with Kai, and his first as a producer. He brings a strong focus on infrastructure-building for early-career filmmakers and a hands-on approach to creative logistics.
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Izrael Avila
Director of Photography
Izrael Avila is a Bay Area-born filmmaker currently studying Cinema and Television Arts at CSU Northridge. He works across both narrative and documentary projects, with a particular focus on writing and directing. His storytelling voice is deeply influenced by his mixed Mexican-Filipino heritage and upbringing in a culturally rich, diverse community. -
Leena Thach
Production Designer
Leena Thach is a Vietnamese American filmmaker and UC Berkeley student majoring in Film and Media. She has worked on a variety of short films, spanning genres and formats. Pa-Sapphic Islanders marks her first collaboration with Kai, and she’s thrilled to contribute to a project that uplifts and represents POC communities. -
Estella Andrade
Editor
Estella Andrade is a queer trans woman and Los Angeles-based writer and editor. She holds a B.F.A. in Dramatic Writing and a minor in Philosophy from NYU. She has edited numerous short films, including prior work with Kai. Estella is passionate about creating space for queer-centered narratives, and brings sharp comedic timing and visual storytelling to her edit of Pa-Sapphic Islanders.
Your Help
PA-SAPPHIC ISLANDERS is a fiscally sponsored project of Cinematography for Actors, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your donation will be tax-deductible!