“Appreciation” Documentary Short Film $5

This special screening will be accompanied by a post screening Q+A with the director, Michael Dwyer.

Film Synopsis:

“APPRECIATION, The Tomiko Morimoto West Story”
An atomic bomb survivor shares her story of triumph in the face of tragedy

Tomiko Morimoto West watched from her schoolyard as a low-flying B-29 dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing her mother and other members of her family. Tomiko, then thirteen, searched the devastated city for the body of her grandfather to avoid the injustice of a mass burial, cremating him under mountain tree branches. She married an American GI, became a professor at Vassar College, and at age 91 has only one wish: that world leaders work together for global peace.

Appreciation, was featured in 10+ film festivals in 2023-24 and won several awards including Best Short Documentary at the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival. Dwyer also served as a producer on the Kunhardt Films production of Silent Witness which won a News and Documentary Emmy Award.

Directed by Michael Dwyer and Chuck Gomez

2022 ‧ Documentary/Short ‧ 20m