FORGIVENESS
HISTORICAL DRAMA · MULTI-GENERATIONAL FAMILY · CANADA, JAPAN
BASED ON THE BEST SELLING MEMOIR
Synopsis: Forgiveness is a multigenerational story that spans decades and two continents against the backdrop of the Second World War, replete with inhuman atrocities. The fim chronicles two Canadian families across three generations as they come to reconcile their despair with their hope for a more humane tomorrow.
It’s the middle of the Second World War. In Vancouver, Japanese-Canadian Mitsue Sakamoto and her family are stripped of their personal property, their business and forced into internment – their home a modi#ed chicken coop. Their only crime: their Japanese ethnicity. On the other side of the country, Ralph MacLean lies about his age and joins the Canadian army. He is sent #rst to a blood-bath that began in Hong Kong, then to a prison camp in Japan for the duration of the ‘Great Global Conflict.’
The Sakamoto’s journey as enemies of the state within their own country, and Ralph’s treacherous path through the second world war, collide into a shared future when Ralph’s daughter, Diane, and Mitsue’s son, Stanley, meet and fall in love. Diane has a particularly difficult time with the trauma passed down from her father while Stanley lives with parents who now survive as farmers in a small town in Alberta - a far cry from their privileged past in Vancouver.
Is it possible to face the trauma inflicted on us, get past the hurt, the anger we experience, to eventually find equanimity? It is through Diane and Stanley’s son, Mark that we see how trauma is passed down through generations, and the importance of finding grace to move forward.
Status: Seeking financing. Pre-production. Shooting in 2027.
Attached Cast and Crew
Written by: Mark Sakamoto
Directed by: Deepa Mehta, Oscar‑nominated director of Water, Midnight’ s Children and Funny Boy
Produced by: David Hamilton, Moe Rai
CONTACT
DAVID HAMILTON · HAMILTON-MEHTA PRODUCTIONS INC · DAVID@HAMILTONMEHTA.COM