PICTURES FROM A HIROSHIMA SCHOOLYARD

In 1995, a box was uncovered at the home of a parishioner of All Souls Unitarian Church in Washington, D.C. Inside were nearly 50 colorful drawings created by children of the Honkawa Elementary School in Hiroshima, Japan, nearly 50 years earlier. The drawings were sent as a gift of thanks from the war-scarred Japanese children in response to a substantial donation of art and school supplies by the children of the church. Surprisingly, none of the pictures reflected the horror these children had endured less than two years earlier. Instead, the brightly colored drawings depicted scenes from their community, including self-portraits, cityscapes, festival flags and kites flying against a bright blue sky, children on a playground, cherry blossoms in bloom, city traffic on a bridge, and a girl in a beautiful kimono. There were no pictures of sadness, trauma, or fear. In 1997, the pictures were moved to a vault in the church, where members would pull them out exclusively for atomic bomb survivors. Then in 2010, members of All Souls embarked on a special journey to return the newly restored images to Japan and reunite them with the artists who created them. PICTURES FROM A HIROSHIMA SCHOOLYARD explores the fascinating stories behind these hopeful drawings and the evolution of a friendship across distance and time. The film weaves an inspiring tale of reconciliation, hope and friendship, with the drawings serving as the central characters in the narrative.