Pacific Story Films
An elderly couple looking at old family photographs
Aurora Avenue studioPacific Northwest and beyond

Family history films

The story starts
before you were born.

Every family has one: the grandmother who crossed an ocean, the grandfather who started the shop, the aunt nobody will explain. We film where it happened - the port, the farmland, the old storefront - and the people who still remember, before the remembering moves on.

  • ◆Location filming where the story happened
  • ◆Immigration and business archives woven in
  • ◆Japanese, Cantonese, Spanish, Tagalog interviewing
  • ◆Films subtitled for the next generation
Tell us the story See films

Where the story happened

The house is still there. So is the dock.

A family history film made entirely in a living room is a good interview. A family history film that goes to the dock where grandmother landed, the farmland, the second storefront - that is a film your grandchildren watch standing up.

We plan each film around a place. Sometimes the place is across town and sometimes it is across the Pacific; we have filmed family stories on four continents and a ferry. The place does what no photograph can - it proves the story happened.

The studio

Storytellers with passports current

01

Helen Nakamura Founder & director

Granddaughter of a picture-bride story she filmed too late to ask about directly - the reason this studio exists. Directs every film; interviews in Japanese and English.

02

Miguel Serrano Producer

Tracks down the places: the old addresses, the parish records, the distant cousin in the Azores who has the photographs. Bilingual English-Spanish interviews.

03

Grace Park Cinematographer

Shoots locations like landscapes and people like family. Cantonese-language interviewing; a documentary eye for the detail that carries the story.

04

Tom Iverson Editor & archives

Assembles four generations of photographs, immigration papers, and 16mm into films that breathe. Keeps the chapter structure families ask for by name.

Location days

La pratique, en vrai

The dock where she landed
Places prove the story happened.

Films

Four depths of family story

The Story Reel

$2,900film

Start here

Two interviews, one meaningful location, photo archive. A 20-minute film - the essential family record.

The Homestead Film

$6,400film

Most booked

Four interviews, the family home or homeland, immigration or business archives restored. 35-minute film with subtitle tracks for the next generation.

The Two-Shores Film

$9,600film

Across the water

Filming in both countries - the old country and the new. Six interviews, bilingual subtitles, 50-minute film. Our signature and our favorite.

The Century Film

$12,800collection

The hundred-year record

A year of production, every living generation interviewed, full archive restoration, a 75-minute master film plus chaptered extras. For hundredth birthdays and family reunions.

All prices USD. International filming priced with real, itemized travel costs - no surprises, ever. Bilingual subtitles included where the family speaks more than one language.

The process

From first call to premiere

01

The story call

Helen listens for the spine of the story: who came, what they built, what the family still argues about. The argument is usually the good part.

02

The places

Miguel finds them - the address, the dock, the shopfront, the cousin with the photographs. We plan one or two trips around what matters most.

03

The interviews

Elders first, at their pace, in their language. Then the children of the story, whose versions are also the record.

04

The film

Photos, papers, and 16mm restored by Tom; subtitles for the grandchildren; delivered privately, on USB and streaming link, with family copies.

Client stories

What our clients say

"My grandfather would not talk about the crossing. Ever. Helen interviewed him in Japanese for an hour and he told her everything, including the name of the ship. My father heard the name of the ship for the first time in his life."

Kazuo M.
grandson, 41 (Seattle)

"We filmed the farm in the Azores where my great-grandmother was born, and the cousin who still lives there. My teenagers watched a subtitled film about sheep farming and cried. Sheep farming."

Marisol F.
family film, 2018 (Tacoma)

"Both my parents were interviewed for the Century Film; we lost my father the following spring. I do not have words for what that film is to us, so I will just say: book it now. Do not wait for the birthday."

Ellen C.
daughter, 58 (Bellevue)

// Before you book //

Frequently asked questions

That is the Two-Shores Film, and the reason it exists. Miguel handles the logistics, Helen or Grace interviews in the family's language, and travel is itemized honestly before you commit.
Helen interviews in Japanese, Grace in Cantonese, Miguel in Spanish. Other languages: we bring in a trusted interpreter and build the session around them comfortably.
Every family has chapters like this. We follow your guidance on what is filmed, what is off the record entirely, and what appears as context without names. Your call, kept permanently.
Then the film leans on places and voices, which it can do beautifully. Miguel also researches public archives - ships' manifests, city directories, the local paper - which often surface more than families expect.
Completely. Private streaming link, family copies, nothing public without separate written permission. Most of our films have audiences smaller than a reunion.
Yes, and it is the best premiere there is. We deliver banquet-ready sound, and Helen will attend and introduce the film when invited, which she loves.

Inquire

Where does the story start

The family, the country or countries, and the one thing everyone says at the end of the story. We will take it from there.

TEL (206) 555-0188
Hours Mon-Fri 9am-5pm PT

メール [email protected]