The film opens at Cindy's Restaurant in Davis, California, where the filmmaker's father had breakfast every morning in the same seat for thirty years. The actor comes through the door and sits in the very same seat.
The filmmaker's father spent three years of his childhood imprisoned in an internment camp in a northern California desert during World War II.
The filmmaker's father was diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after the script was written. He was on set everyday during production and passed away during post-production.
"The Nisei Farmer" was made in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MFA degree at the Univeristy of Southern California.