「大福」Daifuku (noun);  a traditional Japanese sweet, thought to bring good luck. 

LOGLINE: 16-year-old Azuki’s struggle with her cultural identity is put to the test when she argues with her mother and accidentally imbues her family’s traditional good-luck pastries with bad luck, wreaking havoc that she must fix.

Great Fortune entails the story of Azuki, a Japanese teenage girl living in the US, struggling to find her place in the world. When 16 year old Azuki is challenged with taking over the family’s daifuku shop for the day, she begins to grow frustrated with her cultural identity and responsibilities. Little does she know she has forgotten the most important ingredient to her mother’s secret recipe, imbuing bad luck into the daifuku. What is the missing ingredient? Will she be able to undo the chaos she has caused across town?

Japanese, or American? From an early age, I was categorized into being one or the other. Every exam, every survey, I was split between checking two boxes; White, or Asian? I  particularly felt this way as I was growing up in Japan and much like Azuki, I always felt out of place. I wish I were more Japanese. If I were more Japanese, maybe I wouldn’t stand out as much. Maybe I would be taken seriously. Maybe they wouldn’t see me as a foreigner. I would have the same feeling, a wave of uncertainty, while living in the US as well. I wish I were more American, I wish I looked whiter. I wish I had blue eyes. I wish people would stop asking me why my English is so good. No matter how much I pushed myself, I was incapable of becoming ‘more’, and the more I tried, the further I was from being my true self. Luckily, I was surrounded by people who accepted and loved me as I am, even when I didn’t he kind of people who helped me realize that I am enough. Maybe I’m not fully one or the other, and maybe that’s okay. Maybe I don’t have to be categorized, maybe I can be whoever I choose to be, whoever I am. To embrace your cultural identity, and to love who you are, those two things are what allow Azuki to redeem herself and in return, make successful daifuku. It’s what’s brought me here, to share this story with you. 

Great Fortune is a combination of cultures, inspired by the use of magical realism and coming-of-age comedy, in hopes to share a new perspective on the struggles of being Asian-American with various audience members.

Many things go into funding this project. To create this vision and the world around it we must create sets, rent camera equipment and locations, provide food for the talent and crew, advertise, and distribute to film festivals, which each have their own fee. Below we have organized what we need in for main categories to show where your donation can help! 

As students, fundraising is extremely important to make our films possible. Your donation can help our crew and talent make the vision come to light. We completely understand if you are unable to donate, however, you can still support this film by sharing our Indiegogo through social media and to your friends!