Linda Ohama

Linda Ohama is a Canadian artist and filmmaker. She is most noted for her 2001 film Obāchan's Garden.

Career

Ohama's first feature-length documentary was Obāchan's Garden, released in 2001. The film centred on Ohama's grandmother, Asayo Murakami,^[1] and was partly filmed in Onomichi.^[2] It was a Genie Award nominee for Best Feature Length Documentary at the 22nd Genie Awards in 2001.^[3] Obāchan's Garden also won five Leo Awards including Best Director for Ohama.^[4]

Following the tsunami that hit Japan's Tohoku region in March 2011, Ohama began working on the documentary A New Moon over Tohoku (2016), that chronicled the tsunami and its effects. She spent over two years filming the project.^[2][5]

She has also directed the films The Last Harvest (1994),^[6] Neighbors, and Wild Horses & Cowboys,^[5] as well as two episodes of the documentary television series A Scattering of Seeds.

Ohama is principally a visual artist, whose work centres on her Japanese Canadian heritage.^[7]

Personal life

Ohama was born and raised in Rainier, Alberta on a potato farm.^[7] Her family lost the farm in the 1990s.^[5]