By SHARON YAMATO
His face graces this year’s VC Film Fest’s lively new artwork for the event that runs from
May 1 to May 10. As this 40th annual festival fast approaches, it’s notable that it’s dedicated to the spectacled man at the poster’s center, the late, great Steve Tatsukawa (1949-1984), the founding VC executive director who died tragically almost exactly 40 years ago.
After collecting his friends’ descriptive adjectives about Steve, like “legendary,” “quirky,” “goofy,” “compassionate,” and “fierce,” I felt a strong need to bring him back to life — if only in writing — for the many who didn’t know him during his all-too-brief 35 years on this earth.
Those who knew Steve, according to friend and co-worker Amy Kato, remember to this day exactly where they were when Steve died suddenly from a fatal heart condition. Like other legends we Sansei remember (up there with JFK or John Lennon), Steve was that important. So important that when it was suggested that the 40th anniversary of Steve’s death be commemorated, Visual Communications immediately rose to the occasion.
VC Executive Director Francis Cullado remembers how the notion of honoring Steve took form. “It was very organic as the artist we were working with was drawn to Steve’s photo in the archives and began to ideate art around him, without even knowing about the 40th year of his passing.”
Under the direction of Creative Director Asavari Kumar at Super-nova Design, this year’s logo is a colorful rendition of the man who was VC’s founding executive and relentless community activist.
The image of a man pointing his camera directly at the viewer while being surrounded by colorful film-related animated graphics depicts someone who was both engaging and engaged. It was Steve’s goal to use media arts at a time when Asian Americans needed wider representation to make our community more visible. “All Power to the Imagination,” was Steve’s cry.
Steve not only helped found Visual Communications, but at the time of his death had gone on to become perhaps the only Japanese American program executive in KCET history. As Amy notes, “He had two sides: the businessperson and the colorful jokester.” He was capable of securing grants to keep the fledgling VC going from its early days in the 1980s, then dealing with the staid national Public Broadcasting Service’s executives, while also being equally adept at making people laugh.
JANM’s John Esaki painted the best jocular picture of Steve when he wrote about him in 2004, “Lead prankster at VC, trading suit & tie for aloha shirt and Mickey Mouse cap after a day’s work as program exec at KCET, always smoking up a storm cloud of ideas and seductive mischief, continually cracking you up with an offbeat take when least expected.”
However, it’s Bruce Iwasaki, now an L.A. Superior Court judge, who gives us insight into Steve’s genius. “Steve accomplished serious things without taking himself seriously,” said Bruce. “In his presence, things were funnier, more absurd and yet, more real.”
Steve thrived at a time in the ’60s and ’70s when community activism was coming of age. Fellow community activist Mike Murase would call it a time of growth and change “when we were in the process of forming individual and collective identities and values.” Publications like Gidra and anti-war activism brought Mike, Steve, and many others together to take a stand for peace and social justice.
Eddie Wong recalls Steve as “fierce in his own way with a sharp mind and strong will towards fighting for justice.” Together, as organizers against the Vietnam War and for ethnic studies at UCLA, Eddie notes, “Steve thought deeply about social change and was willing to do his part, whether it be in a skit or drafting a leaflet. He showed up and he inspired us all.”
Another fellow UCLA student, filmmaker Duane Kubo, was around when Steve got beaten up by the police in an anti-war protest on campus. As Duane tells it, “When I saw that Steve had rocks in his pocket on the day of his bust, I said to myself, ‘Now there’s a guy I want to hang out with. . ..’”
The story of Steve’s bust is retold through music in the VC Archives video “Steve Tatsukawa Was a Yellow Pearl.” The tribute song by Mia Yamamoto and the Band is fitting for the goofy guy who believed in the transformational power of music.
I got to see a little of the music-loving but very serious side of Steve while he was a program executive at KCET. I was lucky enough to meet him when my partner and I pitched a show idea as young, inexperienced producers desperately searching for someone who recognized the historical importance of a show about young girl group singers. Steve immediately understood its value at a time when women and minorities were not part of the TV landscape. We hitched our wagon to his star, but his life was cut short just as his brilliance was about to be recognized as among the best and brightest in public television’s galaxy.
Thanks to this year’s VC Film Fest, Steve’s legacy remains intact. The festival kicks off on May 1 with a program called “VC Archives Presents: CA Liberation,” featuring two films by fellow VC founders and Steve’s buddies, Duane Kubo and Eddie Wong. If you can attend the free (or pay-what-you-can) program at 5:30 p.m., maybe you can watch the spirit of the one-and-only Steve Tatsukawa brought back to life in the works of two of his good friends.
And if you happen to be around on Friday, May 3, at 3 p.m., the VC Film Fest will present another free program featuring my latest film, “One Fighting Irishman,” which tells the story of another civil rights warrior, attorney Wayne M. Collins. I plan to dedicate the screening to the inimitable VC founder and those at Visual Communications Media who continue to lead the way for filmmakers like us to have a platform to tell our stories.
For more information about Steve Tatsukawa and this year’s VC Film Fest schedule, visit https://festival.vcmedia.org/2024/schedule/.
Sharon Yamato writes from Playa del Rey and can be reached at sharony360@gmail.com. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of The Rafu Shimpo.