Ilokano series rooted in Maui sugar plantation history selected for international festivals

“All the Things I Leave You (Patawid),” an Ilokano-language drama series rooted in the legacy of Maui’s sugar workers, is gaining international attention following its world premiere at NewFest: New York’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival and a special screening at the International Nakem Conference at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

The series has now been selected for the Africa International Human Rights Film Festival in Nigeria, taking place Dec. 8–10, and the Tianjin International Academic Film Festival in China, scheduled for Dec. 20–21. The series has also generated significant global interest online, with its trailer earning more than 4.4 million views on YouTube and an additional 2 million views on Facebook.

Directed by award-winning Filipino filmmaker Jade Castro, “All the Things I Leave You (Patawid)” is based on an original story by Maui attorney Lance D. Collins, who also produced the series with Philippine-based Daluyong Studios. Performed in Ilokano, the series features an all-Ilokano original soundtrack and a music score incorporating several compositions by Queen Liliʻuokalani, weaving together cultural memory from both Ilocos and Hawai‘i.

At its core, the series centers on the life and untold history of Tino, an Ilokano sakada who migrated to Lahaina to work on the sugar plantation. Through a hidden cigar box filled with unsent letters, photographs and decades of silence, the narrative explores how transnational migration reshapes families across oceans, revealing emotional, cultural and generational impacts that continue to resonate today. By grounding the story in Tino’s experience, the series highlights a history shared by every family that intersections with transnational migration for work.

The series follows Jorge, Tino’s privileged but directionless grandson, and Kiko, a resourceful working class newcomer hired by Tino shortly before his death. When the two uncover an old cigar box, they are drawn into the decades-old love story between Tino and his best friend, Bong — a relationship shaped by migration, separation and sacrifice. As Jorge and Kiko piece together Tino’s past, they confront their own histories, desires and the legacies they inherit, intertwining Ilocos and Hawai‘i through themes of memory, intimacy and cultural continuity.

“All the Things I Leave You (Patawid)” premiered at NewFest in New York on Oct. 14, 2024, and was featured at the International Nakem Conference in Honolulu in November 2024. Its next international screenings will be at the Africa International Human Rights Film Festival in Lagos, Nigeria, and the Tianjin International Academic Film Festival in Tianjin, China, later in December.