Documentary · 2021

40 Years of Friendship

Director · Cinematographer · Drone Cinematographer · Editor

An aerial view of delegates gathered on a bridge in Kasugai Gardens, Kelowna.

The film

A short documentary celebrating the 40th anniversary of the sister-city relationship between Kelowna, Canada, and Kasugai, Japan.

The approach

Garden imagery, aerial cinematography, civic voices and four decades of archival history trace a friendship that began with the cities' 1981 agreement and grew through cultural, educational and environmental exchange.

Watch the film

Project details

Release: 2021
Category: Documentary

The anniversary

Forty years between two cities.

The film treats the Kelowna-Kasugai relationship as lived civic memory, moving from the garden into the people and exchanges that sustained it.

Kelowna and Kasugai became sister cities in 1981. Kasugai Gardens opened in 1987, and the film marks the relationship's 40th anniversary in 2021.

Watch 40 Years of Friendship Association history Kelowna-Kasugai Sister City Association City of Kelowna City of Kelowna sister cities Press Global News anniversary coverage

Additional credits

Organization: Kelowna-Kasugai Sister City Association

Behind the scenes

From the production.

Finished frames and behind-the-scenes photographs from the shoot.

Women in colourful kimono walk across a wooden garden bridge. — Women in colourful kimono cross the wooden bridge.

A woman in a blue patterned kimono stands beneath evergreen trees. — A woman in a blue kimono stands among the garden evergreens.

Three women in colourful kimono stand beside white blossoms in Kasugai Gardens. — Three women stand beside white blossoms in Kasugai Gardens.

A photograph collage reads 1983 Kelowna Boulevard is Proclaimed in Kasugai. — Photographs mark the 1983 naming of Kelowna Boulevard in Kasugai.

A group photograph appears beside the year 2016 and a sister-city exchange caption. — A 2016 group photograph marks a visit between the sister cities.

A group gathers on a bridge above the pond in Kasugai Gardens. — A group gathers on the garden bridge above the pond.

40 Years of Friendship

Forty years between two cities.

From the production.

Related work

Vintage Rebel

Displaced