BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--When the Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 71 years ago, 12 US Prisoners of War were among the casualties. Japanese citizen Shigeaki Mori was only 8 years old when the Americans bombed Hiroshima, and made it his life’s work to memorialize the POWs. Boston ad exec Barry Frechette of Connelly Partners made it part of his life’s work to tell the story of Mori in the just released documentary Paper Lanterns. The film follows the families POWs Normand Brissette of Lowell, Massachusetts and Ralph Neal of Harrodsburg, Kentucky as Mori shares the details of their last days.
In light of President Obama’s momentous visit to Hiroshima this week (as the first sitting American President), the Paper Lanterns team is making public and private appeals to have the 12 American POW families and Shigeaki Mori recognized for their sacrifices and commitment to peace.
Paper Lanterns just screened in Tokyo for exclusive audiences sponsored by the American Embassy and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, and has just made it public premiere at the Independent Film Festival of Boston. It will be screening at the GI Film Festival in Washington DC later in May, and on the festival circuit for the rest of 2016.
Barry Frechette is the director and executive producer of Paper Lanterns and lives in Billerica, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.paperlanternfilm.com.