Tadaima! 2023 Film Festival

click here for film Festival Curator statement

please note! the following films are only available to screen during the dates listed below.

Additional details on these films, including links and passwords, can be found farther down on this page.

CAMPS & MONUMENTS

Removed by Force*

Dir. Ryan Kawamoto

57 mins | 2023

*Only Available 10/17-10/31

This documentary memorializes the unique and relatively unknown cases of about 1,500 Hawaiʻi Americans of Japanese Ancestry who were not imprisoned, but evicted from their homes during the war. These unique cases were separate and apart from the 2,000 Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Sand Island and Honouliuli (Oʻahu) prison camps. It is a little-known and important story about Hawaiʻi AJAs which adds to the overall history of Japanese American experience during WWII. In particular, the documentary chronicles the forced removal of Hawaiʻi AJAs in 23 geographic areas, and the pursuit of the related legal cases with the U.S. Department of Justice. Personal interviews and stories of their quest for redress from Honolulu JACL lawyers, volunteers and AJAs evicted is the main theme of the video. It is an inspiring story that provides great insight about community organizing, advocacy, and the role of both JACL National and Honolulu chapter. 

Moving Walls

Dir. Sharon Yamato

25 mins | 2017

Moving Walls tells the story of what happened to the scores of barracks used to house 125,284 Japanese Americans during WWII. At one camp built on government land in a remote area in Wyoming, they were sold for a dollar apiece to homesteaders. The story delves into the intersection of the mass detention and homesteading farmers and is told from the dual perspective of those taken from their homes and forced to live in these shoddily constructed buildings during wartime and those who voluntarily chose to start new lives in them after the war, i.e., the American nightmare that became the American dream. At a time when race and ethnicity continue to raise questions about issues surrounding immigration and civil rights, the film examines the mass detention through interviews with former incarcerees who returned to the West Coast as well as homesteaders who live in the buildings today in the heart of middle America.

80 Years Later

Dir. Celine Parreñas Shimizu

50 mins | 2022

On the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 that imprisoned Japanese Americans in World War II, such families continue to grapple with the legacy of their experience. Through multigenerational conversations with survivors and their descendants, 80 YEARS LATER explores the racial inheritance of Japanese American family incarceration during World War II. The film follows two cousins, Kiyo and Robert, respectively a teenager and child living in the San Francisco Bay Area in 1942 when Executive Order 9066 – which forcibly imprisoned 120,000 Japanese Americans in World War II – was signed. Eighty years later, the cousins continue to grapple with the meaning of their incarceration and its impact on their lives, ancestors, and descendants.

https://tubitv.com/movies/461479/jimmy-murakami-non-alien

Legacy Voices

Dir. Robert Horsting

11 mins | 2020

Seven Nikkei veterans spanning the Korean, Vietnam, and Gulf Wars discuss the legacy of the Japanese American WWII veterans and the importance of the Japanese American National War Memorial Court. The memorial court is the only place in the nation listing the names of all Nikkei whose lives were lost in military service to the United States of America, the first of these taking place during the Spanish-American War in 1898.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UI2HwbErrc 

Blue Garden

Dir. Natalie Murao

5 mins | 2022

“Why have I never liked tomatoes?” A simple question leads a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian to explore her own family’s history in the incarceration camps, unspoken history of trauma, and hopefully lead to healing in this hybrid animated documentary.

A Song For Manzanar

Dir. Kazuko Golden

16 mins | 2015

Based on a true story, A SONG FOR MANZANAR is based on one chapter of a forthcoming novel written by author and educator Yosh Golden. It is set in 1945 Manzanar Japanese American Internment Camp and is about a young mother, Sachie, who is driven to instill hope in her playful son while try to communicate with her sister Hiroko who still lives in Hiroshima. Although not physically together, the sisters write letters to each other and through the Japanese childhood folk song, 'The Crow' they maintain hope that one they will be reunited. The film is by Yosh's daughter Kazuko Golden and is about her mother Yosh who was born in Manzanar and her grandmother Sachie, the main protagonist in the film.

JAPANESE & NIKKEI PERSPECTIVES ON THE ATOMIC BOMB

Hiroshima

Dir. Hideo Sekigawa

85 mins | 1953

Hiroshima is a 1953 Japanese docudrama film directed by Hideo Sekigawa about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and its impact. It tells the story of a group of teachers, their students, and their families in the years after the bomb. In a flashback sequence, tens of thousands of extras from Hiroshima, many of them survivors, helped recreate the "hellscape" immediately following the bombing. The film was based on the eye-witness accounts of the bombing's child survivors compiled by Dr. Arata Osada for the 1951 best-selling book Children Of The A Bomb: Testament Of The Boys And Girls Of Hiroshima (Genbaku no ko).

Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days

Dir. Azuma Morisaki

113 mins | 2013

Yuuichi Okano is a baby boomer born and raised in Nagasaki, Japan. His bald-head looks like a pecoross, a small onion. His Mother, Mitsue has dementia that began soon after her husband, Satoru, passed away 10 years ago. The film depicts their daily life that is full of humor and sweet sorrow, as Mitsue relives memories from throughout her life – including the atomic bombing. The film explores themes related to end-of-life care, dementia, and family caregiving - serious social issues among Japan’s rapidly aging population.

https://tubitv.com/movies/410735/pecoross-mother-and-her-days

Effects of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

US Strategic Bombing Survey

164 mins | 1946

Completed under the auspices of General Headquarters by United States Strategic Bombing Survey (Motion Picture Project) with the assistance of G-2, Naval Technical Mission to Japan and the Surgeon General's Office. A cinematographic record made by the Nippon Eiga Sha of studies made by the Special Commission of the Natural Research Council of Japan. Photography and recording by the Nippon Eiga Sha staff.

https://archive.org/details/effects-of-the-atomic-bomb-on-hiroshima-and-nagasaki

Ten Seconds That Shook the World

Dir. Alan Landsburg

52 mins | 1963

This documentary presents a chronological account of the events preceding the atomic bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. It is a historical overview of the atomic process that began with the scientific developments of Einstein and Madame Curie, and Fermi's successful splitting of the atom.

https://archive.org/details/tensecondsthatshooktheworld/tensecondsthatshooktheworldreel1.mov

https://archive.org/details/taleoftwocitieshiroshimanagasaki

ARTS & CULTURE

The Oath of the Sword*

Dir. Frank Shaw | 31 mins | 1914

*only available 10/15 - 10/21

The Oath of the Sword tells the story of young lovers separated as the ambitious young man, Masao, leaves his lover Hisa to study abroad at the University of California, Berkeley. Masao becomes a success at the university, a popular student and a star athlete who dominates in track and swimming competitions. Left to care for her ailing father and unable to cope with her solitude, Hisa eventually betrays Masao and marries another man. Upon Masao’s return to his native Japan, Hisa fulfills “the oath of the sword” (katana) and kills herself. Following the conventions of Madame Butterfly, in which a tragic interracial romance ends with suicide, the character Hisa is the fallen Japanese woman fulfilling her seemingly inevitable destiny by ending her life.

Considered lost until its discovery in 2016 by film scholar Denise Khor, The Oath of the Sword was produced in 1914 by a company described by Moving Picture World as the “first company in America to be owned, controlled and operated by Japanese.” Based in Los Angeles, the Japanese American Film Company was among several similar independent film companies established by Japanese immigrants during a period when the American film industry had yet to become Hollywood as we know it. The Oath of the Sword is the earliest known Asian American film production and illuminates a largely unknown chapter in American film history. – Denise Khor, Northeastern University

The Shokudo Series

Dir. Luke Uyeda

various | 2022

Jon Okeya is an artist by day and a curious chef by night. With his friends Luke Uyeda the videographer and Michael Murata the musician, Jon has built a secret backyard diner called “The Shokudo”. By learning family recipes and cooking the foods that have defined their unique culture, this motley crew of fourth generation Japanese Americans are on a journey to learn about and preserve their culture and community history by documenting family stories before they are lost to time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9PQDQiA5OM&list=PLQPcI5sCIVx_ARzUYqpzbZYCPMGBhz2lR

George Nakashima, Woodworker

Dir. John Nakashima

120 mins | 2021

George Nakashima died in 1990, but his influence and the appeal of his work remains strong today. His most groundbreaking works feature thick slabs of hardwoods—with complex grain and nature’s “imperfections”—boldly finished and stabilized with perfected joinery. His simpler designs of nuanced beauty are equally respected. Nakashima spent his life until his mid-thirties immersed in the new Modern Architecture, absorbing Shinto and Zen aesthetics and working/studying in a legendary Indian ashram. His life’s work sprang from these layers of experiences, knowledge, and skills. To purchase your own copy of the film on DVD please visit nakashimadocumentary.com

Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful

Dir. Yuriko Gamo Romer

66 mins | 2012

This film documents the life-long journey of Keiko Fukuda’s decision to defy thousands of years of tradition, choose her own path, and become the highest-ranking woman in judo history.

Once in a long while, the life destiny of one woman lines up to make a radical shift for women around the world. On July 28, 2011 Keiko Fukuda broke through a glass ceiling for women when she was awarded the pinnacle of judo, the 10th degree black belt. Fukuda is the first and only woman to hold this honor. Fukuda Sensei passed away on February 9, 2013. She was 99 years old, and had taught judo in San Francisco until just before her death. She was last disciple of judo’s founder, Jigoro Kano.

A Song For Ourselves

Dir. Tad Nakamura

34 mins | 2009

A SONG FOR OURSELVES is an intimate journey into the life and music of Asian American Movement troubadour Chris Iijima. Struggling to make sense of their father’s early death, his teenage sons learn that during the 1970s when Asians in America were still considered “Orientals,” Chris’ music and passion for social justice helped provide the voice and identity an entire generation had been in search of. Through animated photographs, intimate home movies, archival footage of Chris’ introduction to nationwide television by John Lennon and Chris’ own songs, their father’s life takes on bigger meaning than they had ever dreamed of.

Giant Robot: Asian Pop Culture and Beyond

Dir. Dylan Robertson, Dennis Nishi

57 mins | 2023

Giant Robot was a bimonthly magazine that created an appetite for Asian and Asian American pop culture, exploring Sawtelle Boulevard as a Japanese American enclave. Founded in 1994 and driven by Eric Nakamura and Martin Wong, it resulted in a legacy of Asian American artists that achieved worldwide recognition such as David Choe and James Jean.

https://youtu.be/XXHzCXxnsrs

The Medium is the Message

Dir. Derrick Woodyard

15 mins | 2023

Honoring the past, celebrating the present, and paving the way for the future. Puma celebrated AAPI Heritage Month 2023 by collaborating with Asian American street fashion icon Jeff Staple to release a collection based on Gidra – the Asian American activist zine. This mini documentary focuses on a conversation between Staple and one of Gidra’s founding members Mike Murase about the history of AAPI activism.

https://youtu.be/m4E7ov17Mwk

ADVOCACY & SOCIAL ISSUES

Wisdom Gone Wild*

Dir. Rea Tajiri

84 MINS i 2022

*Only Available 10/19-10/23

Wisdom Gone Wild tells the remarkable story of filmmaker Rea Tajiri’s mother, a Nisei woman who survived incarceration in an American concentration camp during World War II, and grew up as the daughter of sharecroppers in California's strawberry fields. Later in life, Rose developed dementia. Through interactions with Rea, her daughter and care partner, she bestows a new name and identity on herself, transforming her past along with her present. In its form and content, the film centers her perspective rather than a disease, telling the story of a life to be valued, not a problem to be willed away. It calls for a societal shift in how we view dementia—one that honors subjective experience, cultural difference, inclusivity, and personhood, to counter the devaluing of age and the dismissal of the knowledge we can gain from someone who has lived a long life, which may be shared through a different lens and perhaps a new language, a wisdom gone wild.

The Fourth March

Dir. Robert Shoji

8 mins | 2022

Many are familiar with the three civil rights marches (collectively known as the Selma to Montgomery marches) that happened in Alabama in March of 1965. There was however a fourth march with Martin Luther King Jr. and a young 21-year-old Japanese American activist. This fourth march has been forgotten by time.

Blasian Narratives

Dir. Jivan Atman

51 mins | 2017

Blasian Narratives is a multimedia project that intimately explores the intersection and identities of mixed race Black & Asian individuals through live performances and film. The project began as a collaboration between Morehouse and Spelman College students documenting and exploring the identity formations of individuals with mixed Afro-Asian heritage, colloquially known as “Blasians.” The grassroots project aims to bring historically polarized communities together by illustrating the complexities and unity of identity awareness–how you see yourself vs how you are seen–in hopes of building solidarity along the way.

https://youtu.be/nJG8AF83cpM

Lil Tokyo Reporter

Dir. Jeffrey Gee Chin

30 mins | 2012

Sei Fujii was a crusading reporter for a newspaper in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo section in 1935. Concerned that the exploitation of the poor by local gambling concerns would not only hurt the community directly, but would also sabotage the efforts to make the rest of Los Angeles accept the Japanese of Little Tokyo as loyal and trustworthy Americans, Fujii sets out to bring the power of the press to play against the gambling houses.

This film will be screened on Friday, October 27 as part of the Breathing Life into our Civil Rights Leaders: From Films, Designations, Books, and Graphic Novels panel.

POSTWAR JAPANESE AMERICAN COMMUNITY HISTORY

Hito Hata: Raise the Banner*

Dir. Robert Nakamura, Duane Kubo

90 mins | 1980

*Only Available 10/23-10/28

A landmark project, HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER is the first feature-length film made by and about Asian Pacific Americans. Capturing the contributions and hardships of Japanese Americans from the turn-of-the-20th century, the film centers on Oda (the late veteran actor/director Mako), a feisty issei (first generation Japanese American) and elderly single laborer living in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. Through a series of flashbacks, the story traces Oda’s life as a laborer on the transcontinental railroad to his struggle to save the home of Little Tokyo’s residents when the community is threatened with redevelopment. An epic Japanese American drama, HITO HATA draws on the talents and support of Asian American filmmakers, writers, theater professionals and literally hundreds of people from the Asian Pacific American community who served as extras, provided locations, props, and moral as well as financial support. The production represents the full measure of Visual Communications’ pioneering work.

Yellow Brotherhood

Dir. Tad Nakamura

18 mins | 2003

YELLOW BROTHERHOOD is a short personal documentary about a friendship and finding community through a self-help group turned basketball team that began in the 1960s. Filmmaker Tad Nakamura met Brett and Khi-Min when they were six years old on a community basketball team called the ‘Venice YB’. As Tad says in the film, ‘We didn’t know what YB stood for and we really didn’t care – all we cared about was having fun.’ As they grew, they learned that YB stood for ‘Yellow Brotherhood’, a self-help group formed by a gang called ‘The Ministers’ to help youth get off drugs. Only later did they realize how the tradition of Yellow Brotherhood’s dedication to personal and political development helped them through their own problems and empowered them to carry on its legacy of creating and serving the community. Features never-before-seen stills and footage of Los Angeles’ Japanese American community in the 1960s and 1970s.

Holiday Bowl

Dir. Mitchell Matsumura

9 mins | 2018

The Holiday Bowl was a gathering place for a community and a generation. Where all peoples came together in urban Los Angeles. Regardless of the tensions of the times they triumphed. Our hang out, bowling leagues, the famous coffee shop, cocktail bar, pool hall, arcade, our home away from home. The community celebrated its opening in 1958 until it closed in disbelief in 2000. 

Japanese American Legacy on Wheels

Dir. Mitchell Matsumura

8 mins | 2019

Japanese American Legacy On Wheels is dedicated to the passion and history of those that started it all. They helped drive the American muscle car era and the Japanese import tuner era to what it is today. 

The Carry On Story

Dir. Mitchell Matsumura

12 mins | 2023

Carry On was a garage band in Los Angeles during the Asian American dance era 1965-1985. The era was a right of passage and undoubtedly the best times of our lives. Carry On was the most popular band of the era. They performed at hundreds of dances held at dance halls and ballrooms. This is their story. 

Gone

Dir. Robert Shoji

6 mins | 2019

We often don’t appreciate what we have until it’s GONE. This film looks at present day Little Tokyo and the changes taking place. The question: Will we stand by until Little Tokyo is GONE, or will we stand up and fight for the future of our community?

Wataridori: Birds of Passage

Dir. Robert Nakamura

37 mins | 1976

Three issei (first generation Japanese Americans) describe a collective history through personal memories. Miura, a fisherman and wanderer, came to America by ship as an apprentice steward to see the world. The director’s father, Harukichi, a gardener, remembers the little boys who taunted him as he bicycled from his job with a lawnmower tied to his back post World War II. Through Mrs. Sumi, we learn how issei farmers developed the prosperous Imperial Valley farmlands despite the Alien Land Law. In a moving scene, several issei talk about the World War II evacuation. And in one pilgrimage, three generations pay tribute to lives spent at Manzanar concentration camp.

My Immigrant Story

Dir. Yuriko Gamo Romer

3 mins | 2018

With immigration such a hot button issue, filmmaker Yuriko Gamo Romer shares her own path to American citizenship. Just thirteen years after Japan's surrender of WWII, her family packed up everything and moved to the U.S. in response to Russia's launch of Sputnik.

Floating Light

Dir. Natalie Murao

12 mins | 2017

After being forced to return early from summer camp, Dana and Sam are planted in the midst of their recently late grandfather's Buddhist funeral ceremony.

JAPAN CONNECTIONS

Kiku and Isamu

Dir. Tadashi Imai

117 mins | 1959

Immediately after the Second World War, sister Kiku and brother Isamu, whose mother was a prostitute and the father was a GI, lived with their grandmother in the country. Because their skin color and hair differed from typical Japanese, they experienced bullying in their rural village. Raised by their grandmother, Kiku struggles to find her place in society, while looking out for her younger brother.

One Day We Arrived in Japan

Dir. Aaron Litvin, Ana Paula Kojima Hirano

80 mins | 2017

An intimate documentary spanning 10 years and 10,000 miles, One Day We Arrived in Japan reveals how people's dreams and expectations stand up to a grueling new reality on the other side of the world. Three Brazilian families leave their homeland in pursuit of a better life in Japan -- what will happen to each of them? Over the past 25 years, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians of Japanese descent have gone to Japan to work. This unique documentary brings to light the gripping personal stories behind a major transnational phenomenon.

Shizue

Dir. Nadine Patterson

17 mins | 1991

Emiko Tonooka, a Nisei American woman (second generation Japanese American born on U.S. soil), traveled to Japan in 1986 to find her unknown half-sister, Shizue. Through storytelling, photography and carefully choreographed video work, a powerful portrait of family emerges. Screened at the Museum of Modern Art, NY in "Consumer Tools, Personal Visions".

Friend Ships

Dir. Yuriko Gamo Romer

5 mins | 2010

Through the whimsical animation of soft puppets, this short film brings to life the historical tale of Manjiro - a fourteen year-old boy who became one of the first Japanese to set foot in America after being shipwrecked and rescued by an American whaling ship. 

Threshold: Whispers of Fukushima

Dir. Toko Shiiki

90 mins | 2015

This documentary focuses on how several individuals from Fukushima have decided to live fully in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Disaster. Filmmaker Toko Shiiki traveled to Fukushima, from the US, in order to hear stories directly from the local people, not just from the media. Through intense conditions and confusion, many of them have developed a new lifestyle, in their own way. Some of them left Fukushima, others stayed, but no matter where they chose to be, these people haven't lost their bright spirits. They live fully, in the now. Moreover, they stay alive by keeping in touch with what they love most - music. Their life stories and powerful music intertwine, revealing the essence of living, and encouraging us to consider fundamental questions about our own humanity.