WRITER • DIRECTOR • PRODUCER

IKIGAI

  • In the mid-1970s, a Japanese American girl, integrated into a white school, attempts to survive her first week of third grade while her mother plans a surprise visit to her daughter's class.

  • Ikigai follows Mayumi, a 9-year-old girl, as she tries to find balance in her Japanese identity and American nationality. Hanako, her mother who celebrates their culture through Nihon Buyo, sees Mayumi’s new school as an opportunity to share their culture with the white students. When Mayumi is assigned a show-and-tell presentation, she takes it as a chance to prove to her classmates that she is not that different from them. But, that plan is soon ruined when Hanako unexpectedly shows up and teaches the class a Japanese dance, embarrassing and exposing Mayumi’s cultural background. After coming home ashamed of her mother and Japanese identity, Mayumi receives guidance from her parents that motivates her to return to school and redo her show and tell in a way that would make her ancestors proud.

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SHORT • COMING OF AGE • DRAMA

Serving as my writing and directorial debut, “Ikigai” highlights a Japanese American story loosely based on and inspired by my mother’s (Mayumi Elardo) childhood experience. It speaks to the struggles of a Japanese child growing up in America during the 1970s. It serves as a testament to the complexities of identity formation when navigating the blending of different cultures and meeting societal expectations. 

“Ikigai” made its debut in April 2024 at the Academy Museum of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater as part of CSUN’s Cinema and Television Arts 2024 Film Showcase.

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