SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE -- Anthony Lucero’s East Side Sushi made its 2014 world premiere at the Bay Area’s CAAMfest 2014, and ended up winning the festival’s best narrative audience award. And that was only the beginning.
The film ended up becoming the darling of the film festival circuit, racking up awards both near — SF IndieFest, San Francisco Latino Film Festival, Napa Valley Film Festival, Cinequest San Jose Festival — and far — Black Hill Film Festival (South Dakota), Beloit International Film Festival (Wisconsin) and more. East Side Sushi marks the feature writing/director debut for Lucero, a San Francisco State University film department graduate who pours the money he makes as a visual-effects editor (Iron Man, The Twilight Saga — Breaking Dawn, Part 2) in his own projects. The film spins the story of Juana (Diana Elizabeth Torres), a single mom living with her father (Rodrigo Duarte Clark) who takes a job in the kitchen of a sushi restaurant.