The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) announces that “Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement,” the new documentary by the museum’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center (MAC), won Best Documentary at CAAMFest in San Francisco, the world’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian film, food, and music programs.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled for JANM’s Watase Media Arts Center team,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM president and CEO. “Our congratulations to Tad Nakamura, Quyên Nguyen-Le, and Iliana Garcia for this well-deserved honor. It’s a powerful film that movingly captures the life and massive contributions of national treasure Nobuko Miyamoto.”
“Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement” is the first documentary (running time: 60 minutes) that looks at the life and times of dancer, writer, singer, performer, folklorist, and activist Nobuko Miyamoto. The film was co-directed by Tadashi Nakamura, the director of MAC, and Quyên Nguyen-Le, a Daytime Emmy–nominated queer Vietnamese filmmaker; co-written by Iliana Garcia and Nguyen-Le; and edited by Garcia.
The documentary had its world premiere on May 4 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center as part of the VC Film Fest. It will also be screening at the Chicago Asian American Showcase and the Houston Asian American & Pacific Islander Film Festival.
“It’s a huge honor to receive this award because it was in competition with so many other great films,” said Nakamura. “It is also very meaningful for Quyên and I since it was through a CAAM Fellowship that I was paired up as their mentor, which sparked our filmmaking partnership.”
“Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement” is made possible by a National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, the Center for Asian American Media, and the Peng Zhao and Cherry Chen AAPI Voices Fund. A co-production with PBS SoCal, the documentary will debut as part of PBS SoCal’s “Art-bound” series later this fall.