SAN FRANCISCO — Join the Nichi Bei Foundation for its 10th annual Films of Remembrance, a showcase of films commemorating the forced removal and incarceration of the Japanese American community in American concentration camps during World War II.
The event will be held from Saturday, Feb. 20, to Sunday, Feb. 28.
This year’s event will feature some old, some new and some old-school as the foundation presents a record 40 virtual films featuring past selections and a few new films with panel discussions, and a special 45th-anniversary screening of the landmark 1976 film “Farewell to Manzanar” at the West Wind Capitol Drive-In in San Jose, allowing attendees to gather safely while still gathering in community.
• 45th-anniversary screening of “Farewell to Manzanar” (1976, 107 minutes), directed by John Korty, on Sunday, Feb. 21, at 6 p.m. at West Wind Capitol Drive-In, 3630 Hillcap Ave., San Jose
Gather with the community from the safe confines of your own car to celebrate this landmark film based upon James D. and Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston’s groundbreaking book. The film is a docudrama about Japanese Americans forcibly removed from the West Coast during World War II. The cast includes Nobu McCarthy, Yuki Shimoda, Clyde Kusatsu, James Saito, Mako, Pat Morita, Akemi Kikumura Yano, Dori Takeshita, Frank Abe, Momo Yashima and Gretchen Corbett.
The program will include a special on-screen reunion with cast, crew and extras organized by Abe, plus a video performance by San Jose Taiko.
Partial proceeds will benefit San Jose’s Yu-Ai Kai Japanese American Community Senior Services.
Select meals purchased in San Jose Japantown on Feb. 21 qualify for an opportunity drawing.
Live Virtual Screenings: New Films
Saturday, Feb. 20, 1 p.m.: “Rebel With A Cause: The Life of Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga” (2016, 90 minutes) by Janice Tanaka. An endearing portrait of Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, whose discovery of governmental misconduct during World War II was crucial to the National Council for Japanese American Redress lawsuit of 1983. With panel discussion to follow screening.
Sunday, Feb. 21, 1 p.m.: “Bearing the Unbearable” (2019, 29 minutes) by Rory Banyard. The story of the forced removal of Japanese Americans from their home on Bainbridge Island and their subsequent incarceration in Manzanar and Minidoka concentration camps. With panel discussion to follow screening.
“A Hero’s Hero” (2020, 11 minutes) by Robert Shoji. Yosh Kuromiya spent time in prison for resisting the draft during incarceration, while his nephew Kiyoshi Kuromiya, a pioneering civil rights activist in the African American and gay communities, remains an unsung hero’s hero.
“Within Their Gates” (2019, 10 minutes) by Matthew Goriachkovsky. Japanese American concentration camp survivor Yukio Shimomura recounts the anguish of his captivity during World War II.
Online Video on Demand Rentals, Feb. 20-28
A retrospective of past films.
Narrative Shorts Program
“Cherry Blossom” (2019, 3 minute) by Sam Pablo
“Yamashita” (2013, 11 minutes) by Hayley Foster
“Warning Shot: The Killing of James Wakasa” (2015, 13 minutes) by Tina Takemoto
“A Song for Manzanar” (2015, 18 minutes) by Kazuko Golden
“Henry’s Glasses” (2010, 20 minutes) by Brendan Uegama
“The Orange Story” (2016, 18 minutes) by Erika Street Hopman
“American” (2018, 18 minutes) by Richie Adams
“Tadaima” (2015, 15 minutes) by Robin D’Oench
Films of Resistance Program
“A Bitter Legacy: WWII Secret Citizen Isolation Prisons” (2016, 70 minutes) by Claudia Katayanagi
“Resistance at Tule Lake” (2017, 80 minutes) by Konrad Aderer
Untold Stories Program
“Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Hawai‘i Island” (2018, 25 minutes) by Ryan Kawamoto
“The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i” (2012, 57 minutes) by Ryan Kawamoto
“The Empty Chair” (2014, 72 minutes) by Greg Chaney
Art of the Camps Program
“For Joy” (2019, 15 minutes) by Julian Saporiti
“Hidden Legacy: Japanese Traditional Performing Arts in the World War II Internment Camps” (2014, 57 minutes) by Shirley Muramoto
“Masters of Modern Design: The Art of the Japanese American Experience” (2019, 57 minutes) by Akira Boch
Camp Stories Program
“The Legacy of Heart Mountain” (2014, 53 minutes) by David Ono and Jeff MacIntyre
“Relocation, Arkansas: Aftermath of Incarceration” (2017, 81 minutes) by Vivienne Schiffer
Taking a Stand Program
“Speak Out for Justice” (2018, 14 minutes) by Steve Nagano
“Mr. Tanimoto’s Journey” (2017, 27 minutes) by Jesse Dizard
“Right of Passage” (2015, 98 minutes) by Janice D. Tanaka
Lessons for Today Program
“Then Becoming Now” (2019, 24 minutes) by Emiko Omori
“And Then They Came for Us” (2017, 47 minutes) by Abby Ginzberg
“Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066” (2019, 65 minutes) by Jon Osaki
Family Histories Program
“Three Boys Manzanar” (2016, 7 minutes) by Preeti Deb
“One-Two-One-Seven” (2016, 13 minutes) by Brett Kodama
“When Rabbit Left the Moon” (2017, 14 minutes) by Emiko Omori
“The Crystal City” (2018, 13 minutes) by Kenya Gillespie
“Crystal City Pilgrimage” (2019, 16 minutes0) by Alan Kondo
“Minidoka” (2019, 14 minutes) by Megumi Nishikura
“First to Go” (2017, 20 minutes) by Myles Matsuno
Documentaries Program
“Moving Walls” (2017, 25 minutes) by Sharon Yamato
“A Flicker in Eternity” (2012, 25 minutes) by Sharon Yamato and Ann Kaneko
“Minidoka: An American Concentration Camp” (2019, 30 minutes) by Rory Banyard
“Hatsumi: One Grandmother’s Journey Through the Japanese Canadian Internment” (2012, 55 minutes) by Chris Hope
Ticket Prices
Virtual Events:
$10 per program group of video-on-demand films, available from Feb. 20 to 28. Students free with ID
$15 for livestreamed new films with panel discussions. Students free with ID
$50 forAll-Event Pass (all of the above except drive-in)
Drive-In:
$40-45 for “Farewell to Manzanar” ($45 at door)
Presenting Sponsors
UCLA Asian American Studies Center and Aratani CARE Award
Kinjiro and Eiko Moriguchi Fund (in memory of Eddie Ichiro Moriguchi, 1929-2020)
Media Sponsor: Nichi Bei Weekly
Proceeds benefit the Wayne Maeda Educational Fund.
For more information, email: programs@nichibeifoundation.org or call (415) 294-4655.
More info/tickets: www.filmsofremembrance.org/2021