Speaking of Anime, It's Spreading

There's bad things that spread, like the Pandemic, and good things that spread, like Anime. The Legacy Film Festival on Aging added, in its last week, a free animated short, for those who subscribe to at least one Program: She Dreams at Sunrise, in which an elderly woman escapes her mundane reality through her dreams, while her great-nephew helps reconnet her to what she's really missing. See the trailer below. To watch the full film, click HERE.

Camrus Johnson, the director and writer, is not a Japanese anime filmmaker. He's a young African-American actor and producer; known for Batwoman (2019), The Sun is Also a Star (2019), and Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad, (2019). He was born in Kingsland, Georgia, U.S. Johnson is active on social media, with about 50k followers on Instagram. He has also modeled for several fashion brands, such as Comme des Garcons, Third Crown, and J.Lindeberg sport fashion. He has about 22k followers on Twitter.

Johnson said, “One reason that I personally have always wanted to be a superhero is that I’d be a superhero for little black kids who look up to you one day."

What may attract the viewer most to this young filmmaker is, not his superhero films, but his two short animae films:

• Grab My Hand: A Letter To My Dad

• She Dreams At Sunrise

These films are beautifully scripted, beautifully illustrated, and the viewer has an opportunity to identify with both the filmmaker and the hero/heroine that he portrays in the two films. Also listen to the music, which is an Earworm (a song or melody that keeps repeating in one's mind).

Activity Suggestion:

In Grab My Hand, he forgives his father. Viewers have an opportunity to share personal stories about their relationships with their parents and forgive their own mother or father.

After viewing She Dreams At Sunrise, viewers have an opportunity to share their own stories about relationships with their grandparents of other older relatives or friends.