On a beautiful hillside in pre-World War 2 Los Angeles, Sachi, a young Japanese girl, plants an oak seed with her father. There, he begins teaching her lessons about life, family, and tradition. On December 7th 1941, the world as she knows it is shattered forever; she and her mother are wrongfully interned and her father enlists in the military never to return. Ten years later, and irrevocably altered, Sachi returns to find she and her mother outcasts, but the oak tree she planted with her father has not only survived, somehow, and most mysteriously, it has thrived.

Director Biography: Masanori Baba

Born and raised in Nagoya, Japan, Masa graduated from Sophia University. He moved to Los Angeles right after graduation to pursue his dream of film making.

Masa enrolled in the University of California, Los Angeles Extension Program, where he completed courses in film production, subsequently writing, producing and directing his first short film, Chiyo. Chiyo had the honor to be selected as a semi-finalist for the 79th Academy Awards.

Masa previously worked for about six years as a Producer’s Assistant at an independent film production/distribution company in Hollywood. He was also previously an Associate Producer for a joint American/Japanese television pilot show funded by the Japanese government.

In 2010, Masa created his own production company. Several feature film projects are currently under development, including an adaptation for a well-known Japanese non-fiction novel based on a true story, as well as Chiyo’s feature film. Masa has also worked on a large, high budget movie script for a Hollywood major studio as a translator. As director/producer, Masa tries to put his heart and soul into every project.