Grandpa Cherry Blossom

Directed by Maddox Chen

Synopsis:
The story of Francis Uyematsu, a Japanese immigrant, told through the words of his granddaughter, Mary Uyematsu Kao, and Chuck Currier, a local historian and former teacher. Uyematsu created a booming flower nursery, owning 120 acres of land in Manhattan Beach until the Japanese-American Internment during World War II, where he was forced to sell his land. Entire neighborhoods now sit on his former land, including hundreds of homes and two high schools. And the flowers he created are no longer his.

Director Statement:
My short film raises awareness of the Japanese Internment during World War 2 in the United States, and how devastating it was for the lives it destroyed. There isn’t a lot of acknowledgement of this, especially in my neighborhood, which made it really important for me to screen it there. Even the impact it had on one person, Francis Uyematsu, substantially shaped the future of thousands of people, whether directly or indirectly.