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Logline

After sending their dying father on a last trip back to his native Hawai’i, a pair of middle-aged twin sisters try to turn their cat-sitting duty into a bonding staycation, but find that old childhood antics won’t work to fix their grief—or their fractured relationship.

Synopsis

Twin sisters Aggie and Bea have just sent their dying father and his overbearing wife on an all-expenses-paid vacation to return to his native Hawaiʻi one last time. But instead of joining him, the sisters are left behind to cat-sit. Determined to make the most of the situation, they make a desperate stab at normalcy: a staycation, complete with margaritas, karaoke, and inflatable floaties, never mind that there’s no pool and it’s October. But things go awry when old dust gets kicked up, and all the old tricks they used to settle arguments as kids fail spectacularly. Suddenly, they’re forced to confront their pain head on. More than a film about grief, Dyingmoon is about the messy ways we deal—or don’t deal—with death. It’s also a meditation on First-gen American preoccupations like identity and belonging, the internal tug of war between freedom and obligation, and the grief of ancestral loss.

Meet the Filmmakers

Yadao Twins — Writers/Directors
We’re Lisa and Irene Yadao. We’re Native Hawaiian-Filipino identical twins who live 3,279 miles apart on the opposite coasts of Maine and California. We’ve both worked (together and individually) in the doc world, branded space and TV, with Lisa’s focus on producing and directing and Irene’s on editing. But we also write funny stories about serious things, like family dynamics, identity, and the tension between being both American and diasporic. We can’t read each other’s minds, but we make great collaborators.

Lisa Yadao — Producer
Lisa is a Hawaiian-Filipina filmmaker with a focus on documentaries, branded content, and short narratives. She has produced and directed several short documentary series centered around womxn and food. Her commercial work includes award-winning short films, web series, and campaigns for Square, Caviar, and Bobbie Baby. She most recently directed an episode of the HBO Max show, TAKE OUT WITH LISA LING, which explores AAPI history and communities across America through the lens of food. She co-founded Paper Tongue, a filmmaking collective whose mission is to raise visibility for womxn, especially womxn of color, and to champion underrepresented perspectives in film and media. In her writing, she likes to explore serious things in funny ways, and is currently working on a short film trilogy with her twin sister about Hawaiian diasporic grief as well as a series that centers a Filipino matriarch and her acting dynasty. She is also currently producing feature documentaries by Lamia Lazrak (DAR MARJANA) and Erick Kwiecien (VIDIOTS) and will be working with Jacintha Charles on her short film THE NIGHT SHIFT.

Irene Yadao — Producer
Irene is a creative producer, film and video editor, and writer who has worked on numerous documentaries, branded videos, music videos, and narrative films—including the feature documentaries PICTURE A SCIENTIST, ARC OF OBLIVION, THE LAST CLASS, and OBSERVER; the narrative short film MEGUNTICOOK; music videos for singer-songwriter Jesse Kivel; and explainer videos for Publicis Sapient’s The How Channel. She is a co-founding producer with the storytelling collective Paper Tongue and was a founding collaborator on Rockland Cinémathèque, whose mission was to showcase and celebrate essential, underrepresented films & BIPOC filmmakers. Irene is interested in character-driven stories about family dynamics, dislocation, loss, and belonging. She enjoys collaborating with other directors, writers, and producers to tell meaningful, impactful, and sometimes quirky stories. She is currently producing the feature documentary DAR MARJANA by Lamia Lazrak, and co-writing and co-directing a trilogy of short films with her twin sister.

Michelle Sampior-Castaneda — Producer
Michelle is a filmmaker, producer, and editor born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is of Filipino-Basque descent and through her work as a founding partner of Paper Tongue, she strives to be both a mirror and window to help amplify underrepresented voices. After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a BA in Film & Digital Media, she studied Film Production & Editing in Spain, worked at TV stations in San Francisco, and made her first short film, BIOLOGICAL CLOCK. She is drawn to cultural and comedic films and she is fascinated by origin stories where we can learn from our differences and make meaningful connections through shared experiences. She has worked in San Francisco her entire adult life (so far) except for her stint in Southern California as an Associate Producer of game cinematics at Blizzard. She previously worked in production as well as training at Industrial Light & Magic, and as a Post-Producer at Square. She currently provides operational support to the San Francisco non-profit, City Arts & Lectures, and is writing a short series about Filipino mysticism.

Brandon Yadegari-Moreno — Cinematographer
Brandon is a multilingual documentary cinematographer and director based between San Francisco, CA and Detroit, MI. Through an intimate filmmaking style, he strives to tell deeply reported, character-driven stories that humanize and uplift participants and their communities. He is a 2025 SFFILM FilmHouse Resident and 2025 Big Sky Pitch participant, where he’s developing his forthcoming feature, THE PRISON OUTSIDE. His most recent short, MOTHER (2024) has screened at over a dozen festivals across North America and Europe, including Mill Valley Film Festival, Frameline, and NewFest. Brandon’s recent cinematography credits include Observer (2025, CPH:DOX), The Last Class (2025, DC/DOX), Quiet On Set (2024, HBO Max), and VOCES: Latino Vote (2024, PBS). His other work has appeared on FRONTLINE PBS, in The Atlantic, The Guardian, High Country News, and KQED while being recognized by the duPont, Peabody, and Scripps Howard awards. Brandon holds a master’s degree from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and serves on the Membership Committee of the Documentary Cinematographer’s Alliance (DCA). He is a founding partner at Family Pictures, a full-service production company comprised of journalists and filmmakers who combine original reporting and cinematic vision to craft non-fiction stories.

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Contact

For inquiries, please contact fiscalsponsorship@filmindependent.org.