Umoja
A moment of eternity.
Winner of the 2021 Michigan Regional Emmy Award for Documentary - Cultural
WInner of a 2022 Gold Telly Award for Documentary - Television
Synopsis
Umoja is the heartwarming story of a man, Frank-Antoine Marzin, and his quest to find the missing pieces in his life. Born in Vietnam, he was put up for adoption soon after birth. He was adopted by a French couple and grew up happily in Northern France, but always wondered who his birth parents were. After speculating and searching for over four decades he finally discovered his father, Vietnam Veteran Asamu Johnson, living in western Michigan. Now the two are meeting for the first time in person in what is sure to be a moment of eternity.
Director Statement
Love is a universal language. It doesn’t know barriers of distance or language and every person on the planet feels it in their own way. This story of these two men, connected by blood, by family, but never meeting one another for decades, is an example of that. A love for family as well as for belonging and unity. I tried to approach this film with the same amount of love the entire family brought to their interviews and showed when their families came together in the end.
