page_title: Hibakusha (film)
section_title: Inspiration
hierarchical_section_title: Hibakusha (film) / Inspiration
caption_attribution_description: English: Atomic bomb survivor Kaz Suyeishi speaks about her experiences in Hiroshima.
context_page_description: Hibakusha is a 2012 American animated short film directed by Steve Nguyen and Choz Belen, and produced by Iconic Films, the Documentary Channel, and Studio APA in Los Angeles, California and New York City, New York.
  The film centers around Kaz Suyeishi, a woman in her late fifties who begins to reminisce about her earlier years living in Hiroshima, Japan during the aftermath of the atomic bombing. Inspired by her story, the filmmakers reached out to Mrs. Suyeishi in order to produce her biopic using computer animation and hand-drawn techniques.
  The official trailer was released on July 30, 2012.
  Since October 2012, the film has been screened at the Japanese American National Museum, Vietnamese International Film Festival, Wing Luke Museum in Seattle, Dragon Con in Atlanta, University of Michigan, UCLA, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, San Diego State University, UC Davis, UC Riverside, DisOrient Film Festival, University of Wisconsin–La Crosse, and California State University, Fullerton. Hibakusha received the Special Achievement Award and Best Animated Short in 2013 at the International Uranium Film Festival held in Rio de Janeiro.
context_section_description: The film was inspired by the true story of Hiroshima atomic bomb survivor and Nguyen's close friend, Kaz Suyeishi. Through various tours and visits that Kaz made in the Southern California area, Nguyen took extensive notes during her lectures and wrote a screenplay loosely based on four different incidents that took place from 1945 to 1985 during Suyeishi's early life in Hiroshima and present day status. Suyeishi died on June 12, 2017 at the age of 90.
  The characters were visually modeled after Nguyen's closest friends and family members. Through computer animation, Belen utilized specialized graphic design techniques and 3-D implementation to orchestrate the illustrations. Each drawing was replicated as a graphic cut out which was then edited to simulate dynamic movements. The film drew particular inspiration from the war reenactment scene in Richard E. Robbin's award winning documentary Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience as well as the Ari Folman Golden Globe Award winning animated documentary, Waltz with Bashir.
caption: Kaz Suyeishi speaks about Hiroshima.
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