Marlene Shigekawa’s “The Blue Jay” will be screened on Sunday, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum, 100 N. Central Ave. (at First Street) in Little Tokyo.
Funded in part by a Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant, this short narrative film is part of a multimedia, online education program for high school and college students across the nation and also the general public. The project is sponsored by the Poston Community Alliance, which provides educational materials and preserves historic structures so that the stories of former incarcerated Japanese Americans can be told and that all will benefit from ensuring that constitutional rights are upheld.
Set in the Poston concentration camp in Arizona during World War II, the film is inspired by true events. The cast includes Ayako Karasawa, Lee Shorten, Ajuawak Kapashesit, Kavan Reece and Chris Tashima.
The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director and cast members.
Shigekawa is an independent producer, writer, director, and head of Marshig Productions. She is the executive director and co-director of the documentary “For the Sake of the Children” (2017) and the writer/director of “The Blue Jay.” Both films focus on social justice related to the Japanese American incarceration. As a board member of the Poston Community Alliance, she works with the Colorado River Indian Tribes community in Arizona to preserve the stories of both Japanese Americans and Native Americans.
A winner of several screenwriting awards, Shigekawa is best known for telling stories that focus on controversial character-driven narratives that tackle issues of equity and justice. Her published works include the children’s books “Blue Jay in the Desert” and “Welcome Home Swallows” and a career development book, “Succeeding in High Tech.”
The event is free but registration is required. Go to: https://tinyurl.com/2ybrw9mt