Megumi Nishikura

A stop-motion film, written, animated, & directed by Dan Blank.

In 1915 a young, charismatic Japanese man with a mysterious past entered into the Appalachian culture of Asheville, North Carolina, is suspicioned a spy, targeted by the Klan, but perseveres with a passion for photography and the mountains he adopts, bringing to life Great Smoky Mountains National Park & the Appalachian Trail.

A journey into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experiences in modern day Japan. For some hafus, Japan is the only home they know, for some living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and the others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.

Two friends, connected by family histories on opposite sides of World War II, set out to explore the lasting trauma of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. While Japanese hibakusha endure lifelong health complications and psychological scars, American atomic veterans who witnessed the bombings' aftermath also struggle with radiation-related illnesses and PTSD.