A landmark project directed by Robert A. Nakamura and Duane Kubo, HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER (1980) is the first feature-length film made by and about Asian Pacific Americans. Following a feisty first-generation Japanese American elderly’s life laboring on the transcontinental railroad and struggles in preserving the Little Tokyo community, the film captures the contributions and hardships of Japanese Americans from the turn-of-the-20th century. This 4K Restoration is funded by the National Film Preservation Foundation, with additional support from funders of the VC Archives (Aratani Foundation, California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, California Humanities, Haynes Foundation, and Mellon Foundation).

Director Biography - Duane Kubo, Robert A. Nakamura

One of the founders of Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, Duane Kubo later went on to co-direct (with Robert Nakamura) and produce the VC production HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER (1980), the first feature length narrative film created exclusively by Asian Americans. Kubo moved back to his native San Jose, CA in 1982 and started teaching at De Anza College in Cupertino, CA. He later became dean of the Intercultural/International Studies Division, teaching Asian American Studies and overseeing the Ethnic Studies and International Studies programs. Kubo is now retired from De Anza College and volunteers in San Jose Japantown by running J-Town Community TV and the J-Town FilmFest.