heARTwork by Yuri: indie film

Tuesday, September 8, 2020

picture this!

greetings fellow heARTists around the planet!

it’s the 8th day of the 9th month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

however, this month we’re going to focus on our upcoming film about the legendary heARTist, haiku writer, traditional Japanese dancer, photographer, painter and home chef extraordinaire—Yuriko!

Yuriko dances the role of Sanshiro Sugata, a male judo master

the film will feature old super 8mm footage from the 1960’s that Yuri shot of her family, and we’re also including slides and photos of Yuri over the years.

here's an example of family footage on Youtube shot by one of her daughters:

pop!1969 : TEEN STAR OF TACOMA

Yuriko in backyard garden with Lulu, circa 1970's

although she was born in an affluent part of Tokyo, Yuri and her family were plunged into poverty when her father suddenly died.

the film will tell the story of how Yuri found herself working as a live-in nanny at age 13; and, how she gave up a career in fashion design because Japan had engaged in so many wars that its citizens had to toil in arms-producing factories.

Yuriko in her 20's

we’ll also show how Yuri’s marriage to an African American GI following WWII changed her life completely.

Yuri's changing life

speaking of that, our War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory film series is currently available on Vimeo for just a few more weeks. here’s the link:

https://vimeo.com/watermelonsushi/vod_pages

and, here's our website:

www.warbridesofjapan.com

looking toward 2021 and Yuriko’s film, we remain…

Yuri’s Fans Forever

Sunday, December 8, 2019

"War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory" for heARTist Yuriko

greetings, heARTists and heART lovers all over this great big planet and beyond!

Yuri as a young woman in Japan, front, 2nd from right

it’s the 8th day of the 12th (and last) month, and time for more heARTwork by Yuri.

we recently spent several weeks cataloguing her paintings, wood carvings, handmade dolls and other trinkets, so now we have a good record of all Yuri’s incredible heARTwork.

in 2020, we’ll begin a film about her life, so we’ll be posting some never-before-seen photos. please stay in touch!

meanwhile this month, we’re once again veering from Yuriko's heARTwork to tell you about the many awards that our “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory” has won. after all, the film reflects Yuri’s story, too.

several days ago, we learned that we're a Finalist in the Rome Prisma Film Awards. our trailer, “The Chase”, was first an Official Selection, then a Semi-Finalist, and now a Finalist. we will know in a few days if we will be the final winner, but it doesn’t really matter because we are just so proud to have been selected for the Finalist category in the first place.

https://www.romeprismafilmawards.com/2019/12/05/prisma-november-2019-finalists/

*Picasso Einstein Buddha International Film Festival, Rishikesh Uttarakhand India:

in November, we had several Official Selections in this fest. the final result was that we won a Best Trailer award for “The Chase” and a Best Film Poster award for “The Culture”.

*Indie Visions Film Festival, Tehran Iran and the State of Virginia:

in October, our trailer, “The Chase”, was an Official Selection in this fest.

*Visualis Film Festival, St. Petersburg Federated States of Russia:

we had two film posters, "The Kids" and "The Culture" that were selected as Semi-Finalists in this fest.

*Great Message International Film Festival, Pune Maharashtra India:

in September, several of our entires became Official Selections in this fest, including “The Chase”, which earned a Best Trailer award, and “Herstory”, a short experimental doc featuring two historians discussing Japanese war brides.

*Lift-Off Global Network, Sessions 2019, Pinewood Studios, England:

the first festival we entered in January, was an online competition. for that, we presented a 5-minute short titled “The Race” which was a conglomeration of snippets from our 5 short films.

and below at our last post, you can see that our promo trailer, “This Doc Rocks! (Buddha)” was awarded Best Trailer at *The Buddha International Film Festival in Pune Maharashtra India and our “BFF’s; Buddhist Friends Forever” short doc won a Best Concept award there.

also, when we first began in September 2016, we were the Featured Documentary of the Month of our Fiscal Sponsor, *From the Heart Productions--due to our fundraising campaign.

we cannot thank our generous donors enough! you guys rock!

heARTist Yuriko is now honored in the 5 films that makes up “War Brides of Japan, a docu*memory”—which are all currently available for rent on Vimeo:

TRENDING TRAILERS:

The Chase:

https://vimeo.com/285660140

Herstory:

https://vimeo.com/337430653

and, here are the 5 films available on Vimeo:

Herstory:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojherstory/338403897

The Brides:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/wbojbrides/337486782