Mouchette Films

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Mouchette Films Mouchette Films UNFINISHED BUSINESS a film about The Japanese American Internment Cases A one-hour documentary film produced by Steven Okazaki for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through Mouchette Films/National Asian American Telecommunica~ tions Association (non-profit sponsor) cfor national PBS broadcast in 1985 and public screenings in 1984. Associate Producer, Jane Kaihatsu; Consultant, Roger Daniels; Key Advisors, Dennis Hayashi, Carole Hayashino. In the Spring of 1942, over 110,000 men, women and children, the majority of whom were American citizens of Japanese ancestry, were abruptly and forcibly evicted from their homes on the West Coast and placed in wartime internment camps surrounded by barbed wire, watchtowers and armed guards. No charges were ever filed. No he~rings were ever held. Yet, they were imprisoned _ for more than three years. UNFINISHED BUSINESS tells the moving story of three men--Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayshi and Minoru Yasui--who raised. their voices against this tragic injustice, and were convicted and imprisoned for challenging the United States government. The film takes an intimate look at theit ·lives and motivations behind their actions. It also examines both the facts and emotions behind the internment through insightful commentary by historians Roger Daniels and Peter Irons, and first-hand accounts of Japanese Americans. UNFINISHED BUSINESS also reveals the present-day efforts of the three men , supported ~-y a team of young at ~or n e y s _ and the, . J a pa n.e.s e .. American communitf; to reopen their 40 year-old cases and overturn their convictions. "Only now when people can openly talk and relate their feelings about how their survived this ordeal, did I begin to understand what a serious and deep effect the camp experience had on the Japanese Americans. I think these cases are symbolic of the type of resistance people really felt in _their hearts." --Dale Minami, Coram Nobis Team 346 Ninth Street. Second Floor, San Francisco, California 94103 Telephone: ( 415) 861-0695 .
Recommended publications
  • Honoring Witnesses to a Nuclear Nightmare
    Honoring witnesses to a nuclear nightmare Edward Guthmann, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, August 1, 2007 When Steven Okazaki was making "White Light/Black Rain," his terrific HBO documentary about the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he couldn't afford to think too deeply about the material. "I just took one deep breath," he remembers, "and continued through the whole film." It was only later, after the Sundance Film Festival in January, that Okazaki, a 1991 Oscar winner for the documentary short "Days of Waiting," could take it all in: to absorb the reality of 210,000 deaths caused by atomic bomb attacks on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, 1945; the 160,000 subsequent deaths from delayed radiation effects; the images of scorched bodies, flattened cityscapes and children discovering their parents' remains; the callous Japanese government that treated survivors as "untouchables," as one witness says. "Around March," Okazaki says, "I suddenly started feeling it and thinking about the whole thing. I just wanted to stay in bed." He spent two months in "a delayed depression." Okazaki, 55, shot the documentary in Japan with a Japanese crew, and interviewed more than 100 people before choosing the 14 hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors) who appear in the film. Among them: Shigeko Sasamori, who was 13 when Hiroshima was bombed and became one of 25 "Hiroshima Maidens" flown to the United States for cosmetic surgery; Keiji Nakazawa, who was 6, and later illustrated the horrors of Hiroshima in his manga series "Barefoot Gen;" and Sakue Shimohira, who found her mother's charred body following the Nagasaki explosion, and watched it "turn to ash." Unlike most films about the bombings, "White Light/Black Rain" includes wrenching footage of bombing victims, both the dead and the burned, disfigured survivors.
    [Show full text]
  • Sawtelle Reunion IV Attendees Gather to Reflect on Their Former Japanese Neighborhood Home and Its Now ‘Trendy’ L.A
    THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE JACL Nov. 4-17, 2016 SAWTELLE REUNION IV Attendees gather to reflect on their former Japanese neighborhood home and its now ‘trendy’ L.A. existence. » PAGE 6 » PAGE 5 » PAGE 8 JCCH Opens Up the New A Comprehensive Report on the Honouliuli Education Center. Minidoka Civil Liberties Symposium #3288 / VOL. 163, No. 9 ISSN: 0030-8579 WWW.PACIFICCITIZEN.ORG 2 Nov. 4-17, 2016 COMMUNITY/LETTER/SPRING CAMPAIGN MARVEL’S ‘DR. STRANGE’ FILM TARNISHED BY HOW TO REACH US Email: pc@pacifi ccitizen.org Online: www.pacifi ccitizen.org Tel: (213) 620-1767 CASTING OF TILDA SWINTON IN AN IMPORTANT Fax: (213) 620-1768 Mail: 123 Ellison S. Onizuka St., Founding MANAA President ing Netfl ix series ‘Iron Fist,’ it even be the Mr. Miyagi to Daniel- Suite 313 ASIAN ROLE Guy Aoki doesn’t buy his ratio- may happen again (despite a peti- San anymore!” Los Angeles, CA 90012 nalization: “You’re a writer. You tion to make the character Asian Said Aoki, who’s been collecting STAFF Executive Editor The Media Action Network for could modify ANY problematic, American, thereby giving Marvel comic books since 1972, “Ninety Allison Haramoto Asian Americans is criticizing outdated character and maintain its fi rst leading onscreen Asian percent of Marvel and DC charac- Business Manager the new Marvel Studios motion its ethnicity, especially when it’s American superhero). Once again, ters were originally white. So, in Susan Yokoyama picture “Dr. Strange” for white- a minority to begin with. So the Hollywood’s practicing cultural order to be more inclusive in their Production Artist washing “The Ancient One” — an Ancient One was racist and stereo- appropriation —taking Asian ele- movies, both companies have tried Marie Samonte important Asian character in the typed, but letting a white woman ments but placing white people at to change these characters to mi- Circulation Eva ting original 1960’s comic book series play the part erases all that? No, the forefront of it all, not the Asian norities.
    [Show full text]
  • THE WATSONVILLE-SANTA CRUZ JACL Newsletter October 2018
    THE WATSONVILLE-SANTA CRUZ JACL Newsletter October 2018 THE REAL ”FAKE NEWS” IS NOT NEW … Editor At the start of WW II, the national newspapers and the Traditionally, national newspapers, private enterprises national radio press (broadcaster Walter Winchell) which are advertising papers with some news, promoted clamored for our immediate removal, and Executive Order “WASP” – White (race), Anglo (English), Saxon (Germany), 9066 was enforced. More than 120,000 innocent persons of Protestant (religion) -- in their articles. Advertisers, of course, Japanese ancestry, who were living on the West Coast were from this WASP group. (Washington, Oregon, and California), were incarcerated, In northern California, the SF Examiner, SF Chronicle, most of whom were American citizens. the McClatchy press (Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee), and Then, toward the end of the war, the newspapers began others, were the promoters of WASP. to expand their coverages. Articles of the heroics of the th nd In nearly every issue, there was “disinformation” -- anti- members of the 100 /442 Regimental Combat Team minority attacks against native Americans, blacks, Hispanics, appeared in the US military’s newspaper, The Stars and Asians, Catholics, Mormons, women, and others. Stripes. The movie newsreels filmed these stories and of the My Issei mother would not wrap garbage in a Hearst men of the combat team. Local newspapers began to print Examiner paper. Why not? Our garbage was too good to be the stories of their Nisei hometown heroes, although the wrapped with ‘garbage.’ headlines often read of “Jap Americans.” Many ethnic groups throughout the country printed their Who wrote the stories highlighting our Nisei soldiers? own newspapers before the 1940s.
    [Show full text]
  • La La Land | Planet Earth II | I Am Not Your Negro | Blood on the Mountain | Fire at Sea | Confronting ISIS | Tower Scene & Heard
    May- June 2017 VOL. 32 THE VIDEO REVIEW MAGAZINE FOR LIBRARIES NO. 3 IN THIS ISSUE La La Land | Planet Earth II | I Am Not Your Negro | Blood on the Mountain | Fire at Sea | Confronting ISIS | Tower scene & heard BAKER & TAYLOR’S SPECIALIZED A/V TEAM OFFERS ALL THE PRODUCTS, SERVICES AND EXPERTISE TO FULFILL YOUR LIBRARY PATRONS’ NEEDS. Learn more about Baker & Taylor’s Scene & Heard team: ELITE Helpful personnel focused exclusively on A/V products and customized services to meet continued patron demand PROFICIENT Qualified entertainment content buyers ensure frontlist and backlist titles are available and delivered on time SKILLED Supportive Sales Representatives with an average of 15 years industry experience DEVOTED Nationwide team of A/V processing staff ready to prepare your movie and music products to your shelf-ready specifications Experience KNOWLEDGEABLE Baker & Taylor is the Full-time staff of A/V catalogers, most experienced in the backed by their MLS degree and more than 43 years of media cataloging business; selling A/V expertise products to libraries since 1986. 800-775-2600 x2050 [email protected] www.baker-taylor.com Spotlight Review La La Land HHHH breezy romanticism of make-believe through Lionsgate, 128 min., PG- entrancing, unabashedly twinkly musical 13, DVD: $29.99, Blu- numbers choreographed by Mandy Moore ray/DVD Combo: $39.99, (not the pop singer) that are reminiscent of Publisher/Editor: Randy Pitman Apr. 25 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers and Gene Kelly/ Opening with a Debbie Reynolds, particularly when the Associate Editor: Jazza Williams-Wood fabulous fantasy song- lovebirds glide into the heavens during the Editorial Assistant: Christopher Pitman and-dance sequence sparkling “City of Stars” at the Griffith Ob- Graphic Designer: Carol Kaufman featuring commuters servatory.
    [Show full text]
  • Oscar Shorts 2014
    PRESS KIT For information on the U.S. release, contact: Marina Bailey 323-650-3627/[email protected] (West Coast) John Murphy 212-414-0408/[email protected] (East Coast) or For U.S. theatrical booking enquiries and regional publicity, contact: Neal Block 212-924-6701 (x211)/[email protected] For global enquiries, contact: Izabelle Durian +44 (0)20 7012 1579/[email protected] . N O I S S I M R E P H T I W D E S U D N A , S E C N E I C S D N A S T R A E R U T C I P N O I T O M F O Y M E D A C A E H T F O S K R A M E D A R T D E R E T S I G E R E R A ” ® S D R A W A Y M E D A C A “ D N A ” ® R A C S O “ " "“OSCAR®” AND “ACADEMY AWARDS®” ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF THE ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES, AND USED WITH PERMISSION. A N I M A T I O N FERAL USA / 13MIN Director: Daniel Sousa Synopsis: A wild boy is found in the woods by a solitary hunter and brought back to civilization. Alienated by a strange new environment, the boy tries to adapt by using the same strategies that kept him safe in the forest. Director’s Biography: In his work, Daniel Sousa uses animation and themes commonly found in mythology and fairy tales to examine archetypes of human nature, and the inner struggles between our intellects and our unconscious drives.
    [Show full text]
  • Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Finding the Cure for Oscars-So-White Color- Blindness
    Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Finding the Cure for Oscars-So-White Color- Blindness The Oscars® are synonymous with the aspirational best in the film industry, however, racial dominance and the consistent underrepresentation of ethnic and minority groups continues to prevail. The lack of diverse representation in Hollywood is not only a massive barrier to the projection of a better tomorrow for a generation of Americans, it is a lost opportunity for the U.S. to take a lead as a model global force for equality. A recent report produced by the Media, Diversity and Social Change Initiative at USC Annenberg confirms that only 1.3% of leading roles in Hollywood productions have Asian actors and over 50% of productions fail to include any Asian characters. The author, Dr. Stacy Smith states, “This is no mere diversity problem… this is an inclusion crisis.” If Hollywood were desegregated, the representation of a diverse society could be a powerful force to rapidly break down stereotypes and properly represent the true mosaic of U.S. society. The implications of such equal portrayal would cut across all aspects of society from pay equity for hourly work to representation across professional vocations. 1. Top Academic Sources On the Current State of Diversity in the Media: • Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti & Dr. Katherine Pieper http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/CARDReport%20FINAL%2022 216.ashx • Race/Ethnicity in 500 Popular Films: Is the Key to Diversifying Cinematic Content held in the Hand of the Black Director? Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Thinking About Hiroshima Nagasaki by Steven Okazaki in 2005, out Of
    Thinking About Hiroshima Nagasaki By Steven Okazaki In 2005, out of the blue, an executive at HBO Documentary Films phoned and asked me if I would be interested in making a film about Hiroshima Nagasaki. I agreed to come to New York to discuss details and put the phone down. I was stunned. This is the film I’d been thinking about making for twenty-five years. *** In 1980, I was a young filmmaker. I’d directed some children’s films and done crew work on television commercials, but mostly I was unemployed. I didn’t mind. I had a cheap apartment, an understanding girlfriend and lots of movies I needed to see. My great fear was that I would slowly but surely move up the ladder making television commercials, gradually making more and more money, then one day find myself stuck doing something I didn’t care about. I feared my selfishness and apathy. On December 8, 1980, I changed direction and decided to become a documentary filmmaker. I know the date because, driving home early in the morning after quitting my job on a particularly difficult shoot of a particularly pointless television commercial, I turned on the radio and heard that John Lennon had been killed. For several months, I’d been considering making a documentary film about atomic bomb survivors. I’d met a man named Kanji Kuramoto, the president of the Committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors in the U.S.A. which represented 700 Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors living in the United States. They were mostly women, fifty to sixty years old, teenagers in 1945.
    [Show full text]
  • True Lives, a Limited Series from the Producers of POV | a Presentation
    32 Broadway tel 212 989.8121 leveraging independent media th fax in the public interest 14 Floor 212 989.8230 New York NY 10004 TRUE LIVES A New Limited Series from the Producers of P.O.V. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Cynthia López, [email protected], 212-989-7425 Cathy Lehrfeld, [email protected], Neyda Martinez, [email protected], 212-989-7425 Online pressroom: www.pbs.org/pov/pressroom DAYS OF WAITING Winner of an Academy Award® and a Peabody Award “An extraordinary love story set against one of the darkest chapters in American history.” - Chicago Tribune Documentary, Distributed by American Public Television, Available for January 2006 – December 2006 Scheduling in Second Season of “True Lives” When Estelle Peck Ishigo followed her Japanese-American husband into an internment camp during World War II—one of the few Caucasians to do so—she created a legacy of works that live on as a painful reminder of one of America’s darkest periods, and as a testament to an extraordinary woman who refused to give in to prejudice and injustice. Through vivid use of Ishigo’s own memoirs, photos, and paintings, as well as historic film footage of the Japanese-American internment, Steven Okazaki‘s Days of Waiting, winner of both an Academy Award® and Peabody Award, recreates the shattering experience of relocation from an “outsider’s” perspective. The film is co-presented by The Center for Asian American Media, and will air on public television stations in 2006 as part True Lives, a series bringing classic documentaries to public television stations, from the producers of PBS’s P.O.V.
    [Show full text]
  • Supplemental Material Suggestions: Film American Pastime By
    Supplemental Material Suggestions: Film American Pastime By Desmond Nakano Set in the Topaz War Relocation Center in Utah, this inspirational film depicts the lives of two Japanese American boys and their interactions with camp personnel and locals as they play out racial conflict on the baseball diamond. Based on true events. Not rated, suitable for all audiences. (105 min.) Bad Day at Black Rock By John Sturges Combining elements of the Western and film noir genres, this classic 1955 film features Spencer Tracy as a mysterious newcomer to the remote desert town of Black Rock in the wake of World War II. He searches for a man named Komoko while encountering violent hostility from the townspeople, not realizing that he has threatened to unearth a terrible secret. Not rated, suitable for all audiences but with mature themes. (81 min.) Come See the Paradise By Alan Parker This film tells the story of a star-crossed romance between a Caucasian man and a Japanese American who are forbidden to see each other by the woman’s father. Together they escape to Seattle, but their love is interrupted when World War II breaks out and Japanese Americans are sent to internment camps. Come See the Paradise weaves late-Depression politics, racial conflict, and World War II into a moving love story. Rated R. (138 min.). Going for Broke Hosted by Senator Daniel K. Inouye This powerful documentary provides a rare glimpse at the 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team of World War II, comprised entirely of Japanese Americans. Gaining distinction as the most highly decorated unit in United States history, the 442nd served heroically while fighting the bigotry and racism on the home front that kept their families interned in the camps.
    [Show full text]
  • Outsider Citizens: Film Narratives About the Internment of Japanese Americans
    Outsider Citizens: Film Narratives About the Internment of Japanese Americans ∗ Taunya Lovell Banks “Memories, like history, constantly undergo revision . .”1 I. INTRODUCTION There is an old cliché: the winners write history. Today, one might add that the powerful leave visual records, like films. During World War II, the Office of War Information (OWI) produced several propaganda films about Japanese Americans and the internment that the motion picture industry distributed. One of the earliest films, Japanese Relocation, opens with the following explanation for the removal and internment of Japanese Americans: Following the outbreak of the present war, it has become necessary to transfer several thousand Japanese residents from the Pacific Coast to points in the American Interior . When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, our West Coast became a potential combat zone. Living in that zone were more than 100,000 persons of Japanese ancestry . [N]o one knew what would happen among this concentrated population if Japanese forces should try to invade our shores . .2 According to this narrative, the triggering event for the targeting of Japanese Americans was the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor by the nation of Japan. Implicit in the film’s opening is the questioned loyalty of all Japanese Americans, citizens and non-citizens, living on the West Coast. Those loyal members of the Japanese-American community, the narrative continues, believe that their removal from the West Coast is a “sacrifice” they “willingly” made during wartime. The film assured Americans outside the camps that ∗ Jacob A. France Professor of Equality Jurisprudence, University of Maryland School of Law.
    [Show full text]
  • Annualreport
    2009·ANNUAL REPORT·2010 CAAM STORIES TO LIGHT MISSION The Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to presenting stories that convey the richness and diversity of Asian American experiences to the broadest audience possible. We do this by funding, producing, distributing and exhibiting works in film, television and digital media. ABOVE IMAGE CREDIT: San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival Opening Night Gala at the Asian Art Museum (Photo by Michael Jeong) COVER IMAGE CREDITS: (CLOCKWISE LEFT TO RIGHT) Amy Tan on the set of THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER, A VILLAGE CALLED VERSAILLES, Festival Forum, IN THE MATTER OF CHA JUNG HEE, OPERATION POPCORN, PROJECT KASHMIR TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND BOARD CHAIR 3 BOARD AND STAFF 4 TRIBUTE TO LONI DING 5 THE IMPACT OF CAAM: A PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL PERSPECTIVE 6-8 CAAM PROJECTS 2009 – 2010 9 THE TASK OF ASIAN AMERICAN MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL AGE 10-11 HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 28TH SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 12-13 REFRESHING THE SCREENS: MEDIA, COMMUNITY AND INNOVATION 14-15 FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT 16 THANK YOU TO OUR SUPPORTERS 01 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND BOARD CHAIR DEAR FRIENDS, Greetings and welcome to our 2009/2010 Annual Report! The past year marked an important milestone for CAAM as we celebrated our 30th anniversary of presenting Asian American experiences to broad and diverse audiences. Our 30th Anniversary Gala was held at the elegant Ana Mandara restaurant in San Francisco. It was a beautiful night of celebration and reflection, reuniting long time supporters with members of the next generation of creative media makers who will carry on this mission to enrich the lives of the greater community with untold and rediscovered stories that touch, provoke, and move.
    [Show full text]
  • August 6, 2011, Air War, Hiroshima-Nagasaki Remembrance
    AIR WAR, HIROSHIMA-NAGASAKI REMEMBRANCE 2011 Contents News Release for August Remembrance of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the Victims of Air War Everywhere Film: Grave of the Fireflies Why we Remember the Destruction of Kobe Film: White Light, Black Rain Why We Remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki Cindy Sheehan: A Day of Infamy Top 10 Songs Against Nuclear War NEWS RELEASE JULY 25, 2011 Contact: Gladys Tiffany, 935-4422; Dick Bennett, 442-4600 Subject: OMNI’S ANNUAL REMEMBRANCE OF HIROSHIMA AND NAGASAKI BOMBINGS (August 6 and August 9, 1945) Events to take place at OMNI, 3274 Lee Avenue, on August 6 and 7, starting at 6:30 pm each night. Saturday, August 6 we will show, Grave of the Fireflies, a Japanese animated film on the firebombing of Kobe (88 min.). This film won many awards. Sunday, August 7, a film on the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, White Light, Black Rain (86 min.). An HBO production, the film won a Primetime Emmy and other awards. OMNI’s Open Mic will follow the film. Mark Prime will be our moderator. Music, poems, and prose about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and air war are invited. The names of victims will also be recited. Desserts and drinks will be available, and your contributions are welcome. At OMNI: Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology, August 6 and 7, 6:30 p.m., 3274 Lee Ave. north of Office Depot. Grave of the Fireflies From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article is about the film. For the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name, see Grave of the Fireflies (novel).
    [Show full text]