June And Sunny's Final Dance

Bruce Von Stiers

June and Sunny are dancers. The are also Japanese American. They are the lead characters in a musical drama titled Infinity!

The film takes place at the start of America's involvement in World War II. The government, by way of a Presidential Executive Order, began gathering West Coast Japanese Americans to place in internment camps.

Sunny knows that they will be taken into custody and shipped off to an internment camp. He tells June that they must flee. Maybe get to the Midwest or another area. But June says they have one more performance to do.

After that scene, the film moves into several dance vignettes. These dance numbers cover their budding romance, their wedding, a pregnancy and tragedy.

Sunny tells June to go on ahead, and he'll catch up with her and then they'll leave. But life doesn't always seem to turn out how we want it. In a tear-jerking moment, the film's title come into play.

Olivia Cordell stars as June. She co-starred in the feature film Maybe Someday and has appeared in episodes of The Flight Attendant and Grown-Ish.

Jonathan Tanigaki stars as Sunny. He co-starred in the film Deadly DILF and voiced a character in the video game Rise of the Ronin.

Theodore Martello, Dante Belardinelli, Troy Lennon Appel, Heaven Marie and b all have minor roles in the film.

Benjamin To was the director and screenwriter for the film. His previous credits include the action short film The Immortal Iron Fist. His documentary mini-series, Life Stories, was show on NBC in a twenty day run. His company, Band With No Name Films, was the production company for the film.

The film was produced by Bryce Marrero. He has been the producer for several other short films and a director of several as well.

Akanksha Shyam was the cinematographer. She was the cinematographer for several short films including Cairn and The Girl Without Magic.

Marissa Osato was the choreographer for the film. A co-founder of Entity Contemporary Dance, she has worked with many recording artists, including Imagine Dragons, Cold Play, Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks.

Caroline Ho composed the music for the film. The Netflix film, Mother of the Bride, is just one of the dozen films that she has composed music for.

Covina Center for the Performing Arts and the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center were locations used in the film.

Infinity! is a film that brings to light the heartbreak and unjustness of what the U.S. government did to west coast Asian Americans at the start of World War II. The director had studied what had happened to real life Japanese American dancers during that period. And that, even if they got away and weren't detained in the internment camps, their lives were irrevocably damaged.

The acting in the film was well done and the dance numbers were excellent.

Infinity! is an official selection for the upcoming Santa Clarita International Film Festival.

I am not aware of a theatrical, VOD or theatrical release for the film. You can see still photos from the film and learn about Band With No Name Films at their website at https://bandwithnonamefilms.weebly.com/

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© 2024 Bruce E Von Stiers