Resettlement: Chicago Story - Reina Higashitani (Chicago, Illinois)

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. After getting into a physical altercation with another student at school, Mary is suspended and her chance of going to the upcoming dance contest now depends on getting back into her mother’s good graces. In order to win her mother’s favor, she helps out around the family business during her suspension. When a customer’s clothes go missing, Mary must come up with a plan to save face for the family. As a cinematic digital history project, Resettlement: Chicago Story is an original short narrative film that brings learners into a curated website and curriculum tool that maintains the world of the film while introducing primary and secondary sources that explain important concepts from the historical period. In English, Japanese, subtitled. 2022; 16 min.