Check out these films from Visual Communications as part of Tadaima 2023

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HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER

Directed by Robert A. Nakamura, Duane Kubo

86 minutes

1980

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. 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.

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WATARIDORI: BIRDS OF PASSAGE

Directed by Robert A. Nakamura

37 minutes

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.

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THE FOURTH MARCH

Directed by Robert M. Shoji

8 minutes

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.

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GONE

Directed by Robert M. Shoji

6 minutes

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?