California Scenario Cast & Crew Screening

As part of our weekend celebration of Isamu Noguchi’s birthday, the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center invites you to the private cast and crew screening of California Scenario — the first and only film granted permission to shoot in Isamu Noguchi’s iconic sculptural garden of the same name, and the sister space to our own JACCC Plaza.

Director James Takata’s debut feature is a contemporary story of intergenerational trauma, survival, and healing told through the eyes of a Japanese American father whose forebears were incarcerated during WWII and a Jewish American mother descended from Holocaust survivors.

The film is poised for a festival premiere and release in 2026 and stars Will Yun Lee (The Good Doctor), Brooklynn Prince (The Florida Project), Abby Miller (Home Before Dark), Minnie Mills (The Summer I Turned Pretty), James Saito (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Jon Huertas (This Is Us), Jes Macallan (Legends of Tomorrow), Jean Yoon (Kim’s Convenience), and Ellen Greene (Little Shop of Horrors).

Jacob Hara and Laura Acker are single parents living parallel lives who must do the individual work of healing before they can find each other. When the revelation of a family secret throws their lives into chaos, Jacob rushes to the side of his daughter, Lexi. Together, they bravely confront the events that brought them to this moment.

Meanwhile, Laura and her ex-husband discover their daughter Phoebe’s dangerous coping mechanisms, and find a way through their dysfunction to co-parent. Flashbacks to earlier generations of the Haras and Ackers reveal tales of survival from the Japanese American incarceration and the Holocaust — origin stories of traumatic legacies that echo in the present.

Jacob and Laura's seemingly disparate searches for healing and truth converge at Isamu Noguchi's timeless sculptural garden, where they glimpse not just who they’ve been, but who they might become.

California Scenario is produced by Jhennifer Webberley & Jen Prince of Metamorfic Productions, Dara Resnik, James Takata, and Jon Huertas. The film also features the cinematography of Yasu Tanida (This Is Us, Paradise) and the music of Kishi Bashi and MILCK.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with James Takata (director/co-writer), Dara Resnik (producer/co-writer), and cast including Will Yun Lee and Abby Miller.

Tickets directly support JACCC’s mission to preserve and promote Japanese American arts and culture.

Content advisory: This film is not yet rated and contains depictions of self-harm and sexual assault. Viewer discretion is advised.