The closing night of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival will include Rachel Michio Whitney’s short documentary “Yonsei” on Wednesday, May 7, at 6 p.m. at Democracy Center at JANM, 100 N. Central Ave. in Little Tokyo.
Feeling stuck in her acting career, Rachel Michiko Whitney decides to write and star in a film about her mother, who was a struggling Japanese American actress in 1980s Hollywood. But as she tries to adapt her mother’s story and digs deeper into her grandmother’s history being sent to and falling in love in an incarceration camp during WWII, she is torn between exploiting her family and friends to create a compelling narrative and honoring their privacy.
The cast includes Denice Kumagai, Elizabeth Reiko Kubota Whitney, Florence Kubota, George Takei, Joey Miyashima, and Marilyn Tokuda. Rachel Whitney co-wrote, co-produced and co-directed with Jeff Mizushima.
Screening will be followed by Q&A. Tickets are available at https://festival.vcmedia.org/2025/movies/yonsei/