BIPOC filmmaker. Agency - English program:.Documentary Program - West.

Director, Linda Ohama ; producer, Selwyn Jacob, Linda Ohama ; executive producer, Graydon McCrea ; director of photography, Kirk Tougas ; script, Linda Ohama ; editing, Manfred Becker, Linda Ohama ; music, Dennis Burke.

Narrator, Linda Ohama ; participant, Natsuko Ohama, Nelson Mashita, Caitlin Ohama Darcus, Donna Yamamoto, July Ono, Warren Takeuchi.

Recorded 2001.

In 1923, Asayo Murakami left Hiroshima and settled in a fishing village in Steveston, BC. Her family has memories of a happy woman who sang, danced and nurtured a colourful flower garden, but underneath, the memory of what she left in Japan haunted her deeply. Delicately peeling back the layers of her grandmother's life, filmmaker Linda Ohama discovers a painful, buried past. In poignant interviews, Asayo, now 103 years old, recalls life in Japan, her arrival in Canada as a "picture bride," her determination to marry a man of her choice, the bombing of Hiroshima and the forced relocation of her family during World War II. Beautifully rendered dramatic sequences are merged with an exquisite collection of memories, feelings, images and voices. Culminating in an emotional reunion with a long-lost daughter, this film is an intensely personal reflection of Japanese-Canadian history and a testament to one woman's incredible endurance and spirit.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Award for Best Director, 2002 Federal Express Award for Most Popular Canadian Film, 2001 Honorable Mention - Category: Social Issues, 2002 Second Prize for best Documentary, 2002 Audience Award - Best Documentary, 2002 Award Best Cinematography, 2002 Award Best Sound Editing, 2002 Award Best Overall Sound, 2002 Award for Best Screenwriter, 2002

Description based on online resource; title from title screen (National Film Board of Canada, viewed 2023-08-10).