Obachan's Garden

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.