"Dragonfly" by Julia Morizawa

It's been said: "those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

In her interview with Pipeline Artists, multi-hyphenate filmmaker Julia Morizawa notes:

"I actually feel like the urgency of preserving oral history, particularly documenting lived experience, is increasing."

At the time of this write-up, it feels as though history—facts themselves—is ... shall we say "open to interpretation." In no comforting terms. Whether it be narrative or documentary filmmaking, keeping bygone events in the social consciousness becomes, one could argue, not a luxury but a necessity.

One could also argue documentaries may not be history's most persuasive savior, if the standard perception continues on its current path: documentary = dry, narrative = compelling. An unfair assessment, but a reality nonetheless.

"I don’t love the idea of making history more 'digestible'," Julia adds. "Because I think it can too easily cross the line into 'sugarcoating' or even editing history—editing the truth. But I do think there’s a higher risk of losing your audience if something is too hard to watch."

To document and comment on one of history's deadliest wartime atrocities, the 1945 bombing of Tokyo, Morizawa found an unlikely medium: 2D animation.

But it's exactly this juxtaposition between somber subject matter and playful, color-drenched visuals that gives her short, Dragonfly, the emotional weight a simple journalistic rendition might not carry.

The result is a tragically beautiful film echoing a significant but perhaps fading piece of 20th century history.

Animated by a team led by Maria Marta Linero, with voice work from Miya Kodama, Erika Ishii, Thomas Isao Morinaka, and the writer/director herself (acting being one of those many hyphenates), Julia Morizawa.

Odds & Ends

• The story is largely inspired by two pieces of information Julia gathered from her mom after interviewing her many years ago: 1) As a child, her mother used to capture dragonflies on her family farm and try to keep them as pets, and 2) during the war, her parents were living in Tokyo but had to move back to the farm because of a "big fire." At some point, Julia Googled "Tokyo, 1940s, big fire?" And ... that's how she learned about the Tokyo Firebombing, as well as the hundreds of other firebombings throughout Japan during that time.
• Julia told her friend (and associate producer on the film), Fern Lim, about this story, including the firebombing bit, all inspired by multiple generations of her family history. Fern later said she'd just watched an amazing animated shorts block at a film festival and asked Julia, "That story you told me about your mom's family, about the firebombing, have you ever thought about making it into an animated film?" The rest, as they say, is history.
• The short is adapted from a larger project Julia has been working on for years, which first came out as a 230-page (!) feature screenplay.

About Julia Morizawa

Julia Morizawa is a writer/producer with over 20 years of experience in film, television, new media, theater, and fiction podcasting. Produced projects include JESUSCAT (OR HOW I ACCIDENTALLY JOINED A CULT) (feature film), SIN & LYLE (short film), FIVE YEARS (short film), TWENTY-TWO (play), and AMERICAN COMEDY HORROR STORY: ORPHANAGE (fiction podcast). Her project DRAGONFLY (animated short film) premiered at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in May 2023. It was awarded Best Animation at the Maryland Int’l Film Festival, Best AAPI-Directed Film at the Phoenix Film Festival, and the Audience Award for Best Animation at DisOrient in 2024.

Julia's feature SOMETHING ABOUT THE TIDE was one of five finalists invited to pitch at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival as part of AT&T’s Untold Stories. She is also producing her first documentary, SILENCED, which captures untold stories of Japanese-American and Japanese WWII survivors.

About Maria Marta Linero (animation director)

Maria Marta Linero is a visual artist born in Argentina, where she studied fine arts and animation. After graduating, she worked as an art teacher for several schools in her home country. She began her career as a 2D animator working on films for different studios throughout Argentina and Mexico. Other projects include the animation sequences for MAARI and LIVING UBUNTU.

She currently resides in Los Angeles, California and works as an independent animator and illustrator for a variety of projects around the world.