Aldo Schwartz

Aldo Schwartz is a San Francisco-born writer, artist, and filmmaker, currently living between California and Japan. ​ Raised by a Swiss mother, American father, and Japanese stepmother, cross-cultural exchange and translation play a central role in his life and artistic practice. Aldo has lived on both sides of the Pacific, making art and building community in three languages (English, Spanish, and Japanese) through the mediums of photography, film, and haiku. ​ As a teenager, Aldo was introduced to Japanese tea ceremony by his stepmother and quickly became an avid practitioner. While studying film at UCLA, Aldo founded UTeaLA — a student organization devoted to the study and practice of chanoyu – which was featured on CBS News LA for AAPI+ Heritage Month. ​ In recognition of his artistic and academic promise, Aldo has been awarded the UCLA Regents Scholarship, Peter Stark Memorial Scholarship, and the Mary Pickford Foundation Scholarship. ​ After graduating in Spring 2023, Aldo is leading a diverse team of cultural practitioners and craftspeople to build a tea house out of recycled ocean plastics. He is also working with an international group of documentary filmmakers and scholars to establish a film festival and host workshops on remote islands in the Seto Inland Sea.