A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story
A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story
Date: Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Lewis Hall, 160 Frank Allen Road, Cashiers, NC
Admission: Free and open to the public
In 1915, a young, charismatic Japanese man with a mysterious past entered the Appalachian culture of Asheville, North Carolina. Suspected of being a spy and targeted by the Ku Klux Klan, he persevered with a passion for photography and for the mountains he adopted—bringing to life the landscapes that would become the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Appalachian Trail.
A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story dives deep into the life of the man known as George Masa through groundbreaking genealogical and historical research. The film reveals how and why Masa left Japan, his stormy period in the Pacific Northwest, and his journey to the Southern Appalachian Mountains, where he reinvented himself as a talented and influential photographer, filmmaker, businessman, mapmaker, hiker, and friend to many.
Told through a cinema verité style and featuring passionate researchers, archivists, historians, and activists in both the United States and Japan, the film blends anime-style imagery with hundreds of Masa’s own photographs to illustrate his extraordinary story and the timeless beauty of the region.
Ultimately, A Life Reimagined: The George Masa Story celebrates how one inspired man from Japan overcame fear, intimidation, and loneliness to capture images of another culture and landscape that became personally redemptive and deeply influential in shaping the conservation legacy of the Southern Appalachians.
Hosted and sponsored by:
Cashiers Historical Society
Albert Carlton–Cashiers Community Library
Highlands Biological Foundation
Highlands-Cashiers Land Trust
Highlands Historical Society