This program has 7 films. Toggle between film descriptions by clicking on the buttons at the top right.

The life of Francis Uyemastu, a Japanese immigrant, told through the words of Mary Uyematsu Kao, his granddaughter, and Chuck Currier, a local historian and former teacher. Francis Uyematsu created a successful flower nursery, owning over 130 acres of land, until the Japanese Internment during World War II, where he was forced to sell his land. Entire neighborhoods now sit on his former land, filled with hundreds of homes and high schools, and the flowers he created are no longer his. Director - Maddox Chuen Won Chen<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/4c1ce45921e450313798bd26f7fbbbfe.png" width="201" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">Maddox Chen is a filmmaker, animator and actor originally from New York City. Currently, he lives in Los Angeles where he is a high school senior. His work has been published in the New York Times and its corresponding book, Coming of Age in 2020. His film, “Grandpa Cherry Blossom,” has garnered numerous awards from film festivals and competitions, including YoungArts and IndieFEST. As an actor, he has been featured in several national commercials. This fall, Maddox will be pursuing a major in Film and Television Production at New York University.

Grandpa Cherry Blossom

Francis Uyematsu created a successful flower nursery, owning over 130 acres of land, until the Japanese Internment during World War II, where he was forced to sell his land.

Blue Garden is a hybrid doc-animation that retells the history of a Japanese Canadian fisherman during the WWII internment. The film explores how trauma can fester and family stories can remain unspoken for generations. However, through the participatory nature of filmmaking, the younger generation is able to reconcile their grief and feel empowered to tell their family history. Director - Natalie Murao<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/d485c8b15390d39f95b6da7b3978cfb4.jpg" width="185" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">Growing up as a child, my mother would often remind me of the hardships that my grandparents faced because of the internment. She would say, “Ojiichan had to pack only one suitcase, what would you bring?” I almost didn’t believe my mother. How could Ojiichan, a gentle and quiet man, experience such a dark and traumatic life? But there was so much I didn’t know about him or what he had been through. The internment was something that the younger generation like myself knew to never bring up to our grandparents. The internment is a difficult subject that many Japanese Canadians still struggle to come to terms with and there are an array of experiences that have derived from it. I hope that BLUE GARDEN adds to the canon of Japanese Canadian stories, particularly in film. As well, I hope to destigmatize the topic of internment and be able to discuss it more openly with the community. I have dedicated my filmmaking practice to sharing stories surrounding the Asian Canadian and diasporic experience. My previous work has leaned more towards narrative filmmaking, but I am currently trying to pursue other styles such as documentary and animation. For me, the process of filmmaking can be an environment for personal growth and introspection. By engaging with the film’s stories and themes, I believe that BLUE GARDEN will help myself and others be better equipped to address the hardships that the Japanese Canadian and Asian Canadian community face today.

Blue Garden

A filmmaker asks her mother, "Why have I never liked tomatoes?"

A short, experimental documentary based on a journal kept by Takumi Okamoto while interned in the USA during WWII which also features original score by Jason Okamoto. Director -&nbsp;Jason Okamoto<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/9a9e9524ec5654770883537d17c70b28.jpg" width="145" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">"1945 April 11th, Wednesday" was based on my grandfather's journal which he kept during WWII while interned in North Dakota. My intention was to incorporate both modern cinematic ideas along with textures found in Edo period Japanese art. In doing so, I wanted to give a dreamlike, yet historical quality to the piece. It is meant to be a larger story of diaspora told through an intimate narrative.

1945 April 11th, Wednesday

A short, experimental documentary based on a journal kept by Takumi Okamoto while interned in the USA during WWII which also features original score by Jason Okamoto.

Fernando is a young Mexican American living in East LA when Pearl Harbor is bombed. When he goes to enlist, he has no idea that he is 1/2 Japanese and he gets assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. At first, he is not welcomed by his fellow soldiers who are all Japanese Americans. When 2 brothers from Seattle befriend him, they do something incredibly kind which he has never forgotten. Mitch Maki, CEO of Go For Broke National Education Center, reunites Fernando with the son of one of the brothers.

I Feel With My Heart

A young Mexican American living in East LA when Pearl Harbor is bombed enlists without knowing he is 1/2 Japanese and he gets assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

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 named Kiyoshi Kuromiya. This fourth march has been forgotten by time. Director -&nbsp;Robert Shoji<a href="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-storage.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/065/895/original/051bb1a024-headshot.jpg?1651037636" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://filmfreeway-production-storage-01-storage.filmfreeway.com/press_kits/headshots/002/065/895/thumb/051bb1a024-headshot.jpg?1651037636" width="192" style="border: none; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: middle; display: inline; height: auto; max-width: 100%; position: relative; float: left;"></a> Robert Shoji holds a lifelong interest in music and the creative arts. After parlaying his engineering degree from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, into a successful career in consumer electronics, he is now focusing his creative talents to tell his own story in film and music.

THE FOURTH MARCH

This reveals a little known story about activist Steven Kiyoshi Kuromiya, who in 1965, participated in a fourth civil rights march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in support of voting rights for African Americans.

Several years after the U.S. government’s forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, the Yamamoto family runs a struggling dry-cleaning business in Chicago.Director - Reina Higashitani<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/f70eb15e98d4a22c8bb71896286436c3.jpg" width="148" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;"> Reina is a Japanese writer/director with an interest in community-involved filmmaking. She has produced and associate produced a number of independent films and TV documentaries including Francis Ford Coppola’s live cinema “Distant Vision,” Sundance Film Festival official selection “Kusama-Infinity,” the Academy Award-nominated documentary short “Redemption” (HBO), and a Tokyo Video Festival Excellence Award-winning documentary “Shall We Sing?”(PBS and KTV), which she also directed. Her previous narrative short “Frog Catcher” was broadcast on KCET/PBS SoCal and screened at film festivals worldwide winning multiple awards including the Audience Award at the Amsterdam LGBTQ Film Festival and the Creative Excellence Award from the Japan Association of Audiovisual Producers (JAAP). Reina is an Assistant Professor at Arizona State University Sidney Poitier New American Film School.

Resettlement: Chicago Story

Several years after the U.S. government’s forced incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, the Yamamoto family runs a struggling dry-cleaning business in Chicago.

Every stamp has a story. The resilience and determination of Japanese American World War II soldiers, who were asked to fight for their country despite having their freedom unjustly taken away, embody the best of the American spirit. While remembering their achievements and struggles, this short documentary tells the extraordinary story of how, after 15 years, a grassroots movement led by three elderly Nisei (2nd generation) women overcame all odds to successfully campaign for a Go For Broke stamp. Director - Kaia Rose <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/1fa11948c00e7ab52f894c969d29d413.jpg" width="270" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;">Kaia Rose is a filmmaker dedicated to meaningful and curious storytelling who has worked extensively as a director, producer and editor. Her award-winning short documentary Fugetsu-Do, an intimate portrait of a 117-year-old Japanese sweet shop, is currently playing festivals around the world. Kaia is the creator and director of Climate Countdown, an award-winning web-series that maps out the ecology of climate solutions, and has written, filmed and edited hundreds of videos that promote climate consciousness and action. As a freelance filmmaker, she has created video content for such organizations as the United Nations, The Juilliard School, 350.org, Rachel’s Network, and the World Bank. She has also edited numerous independent short narrative and documentary films and was an editor and archive manager on the PBS documentary Power to Heal, exploring how Medicare helped desegregate American hospitals in the 1960s. For many years she was the lead producer and studio manager at the BAFTA-winning production company ArthurCox in the UK, where she produced animated commercials, shorts, TV shows and feature films for such companies as Disney Jr, Aardman Animations, the BBC, Creative England and 20th Century Fox TV. Kaia is a graduate of the University of Bristol and currently the Multimedia Content Lead at Connect4Climate, World Bank Group. For more, visit kaiarose.com. Director - Robert M. Horsting<img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/eventive-static/37d46d0505af16b340e02be0af912e12.jpg" width="137" style="display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px;"> Robert M. Horsting is an Oral Historian, Emmy &amp; Edward R. Murrow awarded producer/ documentary filmmaker (“Witness: American Heroes”). As a volunteer with the Go For Broke National Education Center's Hanashi Oral History Program he has helped to record nearly 300 Japanese American WWII and Korean War veteran stories from across the USA. Along with artist and social activist Richard Yutaka Fukuhara (dec. 2018), he has co-produced “Shadows For Peace” speaker forums featuring atomic bomb survivors, and executive produced/directed the mixed-arts stage production, “Afternoon of Peace.” Working with photographer Shane Sato, Robert co-authored the coffee table books, “The Go For Broke Spirit: Portraits of Courage.” &amp; “The Go For Broke Spirit: Portraits of Legacy,” featuring portraits of Japanese American WWII veterans. Robert currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Veterans Memorial Court Alliance. For more, visit: memorialcourtalliance.org

Stamp Our Story

While remembering the achievements and struggles of Japanese American WWII soldiers, this short documentary tells the extraordinary story of how a grassroots movement by three elderly Nisei (2nd generation) women overcame all odds to successfully campaign for a Go For Broke stamp.

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Shorts Program: Nikkei Generation - JA Voices - Virtual

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