Cinema Professor’s Documentary Makes Broadcast Premiere, May 11

Annandale Cinema Professor Paul Awad’s documentary film “Bicentennial Bonsai: Emissaries of Peace” will make its broadcast premiere Saturday, May 11, at 7 p.m. on Maryland Public Television. May 11 is World Bonsai Day.

In 1975, only 30 years after the United States and Japan had been at war, Japan gave 53 priceless bonsai trees to the United States in celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial. Some of these bonsai were several hundred years old, and one had remarkably survived the bombing of Hiroshima. “Bicentennial Bonsai: Emissaries of Peace” chronicles this historic gift, includes rare interviews and archival footage, and reveals how we can rediscover our shared humanity and establish a path toward healing and world peace.

Professor Awad served as the director, cinematographer, producer and editor of the film. Early work on the film was supported in part by NOVA’s President’s Sabbatical Award to co-director, producer and writer Kathryn O’Sullivan, Professor Emerita, Manassas Campus. The documentary has previously screened at festivals and the United States National Arboretum, and it won the Utopian Vision Award at the Utopia Film Festival and Best Documentary Short at the Arlington International Film Festival.

Submitted by:
Paul Awad, AN-Cinema, PAwad@nvcc.edu