About the Film: An atomic bomb survivor shares her story of triumph in the face of tragedy.
Tomiko Morimoto West watched from her schoolyard as a low-flying B-29 dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, killing her mother and other members of her family. Tomiko, then thirteen, searched the devastated city for the body of her grandfather to avoid the injustice of a mass burial, cremating him under mountain tree branches. She married an American GI, became a professor at Vassar College, and at age 93 has only one wish: that world leaders work together for global peace.

About the producer: Michael Dwyer studied film and art at SUNY Purchase and Tufts University. By day, he works as a graphic designer, but his true passion lies in socially engaged art. Alongside his friend Robert Todd, he produced three short films—Watch, Rising Tide, and Mom and Pop—which have been showcased at film festivals worldwide, including Slamdance. Notably, I received a Silver Medal at the Bilbao Film Festival.
Dwyer’s recent work, Appreciation: The Tomiko Morimoto West Story, was featured in ten film festivals in 2023-24, winning multiple awards, including Best Short Documentary at the Morehouse College Human Rights Film Festival. He also served as a consulting producer on Silent Witness for Kunhardt Films, which won a News and Documentary Emmy Award in 2024.
Dwyer lives in Cochecton, NY with his partner, Dani Weber, and their Beagle.