Julia Morizawa’s 2D film explores intergenerational memory through her family’s harrowing story of surviving the 1945 Tokyo Firebombing.
Julia Morizawa’s Oscar-qualified 2D animated short Dragonfly debuts today on the Omeleto streaming platform following its successful festival run.
Dragonfly tells the haunting story of a young girl who learns of her mother’s survival of the Tokyo Firebombing on March 9–10, 1945 through the perspective of her brother. The film is inspired by the little-known lives of Morizawa’s maternal grandparents, whom she never met. In addition to raising awareness of a historical event that remains unfamiliar to many, the filmmaker has said she hopes the project encourages audiences to speak with older family members about their histories while those conversations are still possible.
The short premiered at the Oscar-qualifying Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in 2023 and went on to receive multiple honors, including Best Animation at the Maryland International Film Festival, Best AAPI-Directed Film at the Phoenix Film Festival, the Audience Award for Best Animation at DisOrient, the Jury Award for Creative Achievement at the Arizona International Film Festival, Best Short Film at Japan Film Festival Los Angeles, and the Gold Award for Best Short Film at the Hillsboro Film Festival in 2024.
AWN interviewed the director during her film’s festival and awards season run in 2023. She shared that what began as an effort to learn about the maternal grandparents she had never met and knew almost nothing about soon grew to encompass a larger mission: to teach others about this tragic disaster before its history is even more completely forgotten, lest it repeat itself in future generations. Morizawa, in fact, had two kids of her own over the course of the production, providing further incentive to learn about her family history so her own children would come to know it as well.
“One of the things my mom said recently, because I interviewed her again, was that when she was growing up in Japan, they never taught about this part of history in school or anything, and her parents never talked about it,” she noted. “So, she has actually learned more about the Tokyo Firebombing from watching my film than she did going to school in Japan as a kid or communicating with her parents as a kid.”
Morizawa is a writer, producer, and actress whose work spans film, theater, and audio. Her feature JesusCat (or How I Accidentally Joined a Cult) received Best Comedy Feature at the Asians On Film Festival in 2014 and the Movie Heroes Rising Star Award at the Action On Film Festival in 2013. Her earlier short Sin & Lyle earned a Best Female Filmmaker nomination at the Action On Film Festival in 2007. Her play Twenty-Two premiered in Los Angeles in 2010, and her audio drama American Comedy Horror Story: Orphanage is distributed globally on podcast platforms. As an actor, her credits include Scandal, SEAL Team, Judas Kiss, Masha No Home, Tiger Style!, and the SXSW-winning Wishful Thinking, and she is known for voicing Dr. Bright on The Bright Sessions.
Her upcoming projects include the documentary Silenced, which follows U.S. internment camp survivor Joni Kimoto as she documents stories of Japanese-American and Japanese World War II survivors, and the narrative feature Something About the Tide, centered on a recovering addict uncovering a family secret involving a previously unknown half-brother. Both projects are currently seeking financing.
Dragonfly is written, produced, and directed by Morizawa. Executive producers are Brian Sturges, James Babbin, John Titchenal, Lucas A. Ferrara, Derek Kolterman, and Christopher Luk. Maria Marta Linero served as animation director, with Eva Benitez as lead animator. The score is composed by Aiko Fukushima, with sound design by Giorgia Garcia-Moreno. Voice cast includes Morizawa, Erika Ishii, Miya Kodama, and Thomas Isao Morinaka.
Omeleto distributes short-form films from emerging and established filmmakers, reaching audiences across YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram with a global monthly viewership in the tens of millions.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
