Another eerie coincidence was the film’s shooting location. While the film was in development, production considered several different possibilities. But it landed in Kelowna, Canada, where Kiyoko’s grandparents once lived.

“I got this call: ‘Hey, we’re shooting this movie in Kelowna, Canada, have you heard of it?’ And my eyes welled up with tears,” she says. “My grandparents are buried there, and I grew up visiting them on my Japanese side, and actually have a baby picture of me taking my first steps in their living room, four streets down from where we ended up shooting the film.”

She even “manifested” Zach Braff to play Coley’s dad, she says. The Garden State soundtrack helped inspire the film; Braff, who wrote, directed, and starred in that millennial touchstone, ended up loving the script. “It was so full-circle, because he had been on my mood board for years,” she says. “And he’s a fellow Aries.”

Kiyoko calls herself an “emotional hoarder.” Many of her own sentimental items and memories wound up in the film, including the very jacket that Kiyoko’s actual teenage crush gave to her.

“I told my story through the lens of Coley. I fell in love with this girl in high school, and we would say ‘olive juice’ to each other, and I was so confused at what was going on,” she says. “It was such an out-of-body experience to be directing scenes that were actually quite traumatizing for me, and to find ways to heal those parts of myself.”

Zach Braff stars as Curtis, Coley’s father.Courtesy of Focus Features