A special 20th anniversary screening of Kayo Hatta’s “Picture Bride”
Join the Nichi Bei Foundation in a special 20th anniversary screening of “Picture Bride,” Kayo Hatta’s groundbreaking film on Issei women — the first theatrically-released feature film written, directed, and produced by Asian American women.
Friday, Sept. 25, 2015
3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.*
New People Cinema, 1746 Post Street, San Francisco Japantown
AWARD-WINNING FILM:
Sundance Film Festival: Audience Award, Best Dramatic Film
Cannes Film Festival: Official Selection, Un Certain Regard
Independent Spirit Awards: Best First Feature Nomination
SPECIAL GUEST:
Actress Tamlyn Tomita to appear at 6:30 p.m. Benefit Screening!
* 6:30 p.m. BENEFIT SCREENING
* $50 General Admission
• Special guests: actress Tamlyn Tomita (“The Karate Kid, Part II,” “The Joy Luck Club”) and screenwriter Mari Hatta
• Behind-the-scenes short film and original film
• Discussion with cast & crew moderated by Jan Yanehiro
• A tribute to late filmmaker Kayo Hatta
• Reception with food/wine/sake and entertainment by Francis Wong, Wesley Ueunten, and Friends from Genyukai Berkeley
3:30 p.m. SCREENING
- $15 General Admission
- $10 Students / Nichi Bei Foundation Members
- Includes “Picture Bride” screening ONLY (no reception), with discussion led by San Francisco State University Asian American Studies Professor Christen Sasaki, Ph.D.
SPONSORS:
Matsuji’s Orchid Sponsors:
Joseph Kurata
Mari Hatta and Allan S. Pollock
Ilima Sponsors:
• Alice and Mark Taguma
• Alan Matsui and Dale Nakahara
Sadako & Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Lehua Sponsors:
Art & Debbie Hansen Kenneth & Yoshiko Ho
Margaret A. Saito Allen & Pat Okamoto
Plumeria Sponsors:
Yone Shintaku Kyle Tatsumoto Alice Moriguchi
Clarence K. Saika Kimochi, Inc. Reiko Iwanaga
Akemi Kikumura Yano Jeff Adachi Hiroshi Shimizu
Susan Tanaka Kiyomi Takeda Nihonmachi Little Friends
Stephanie Sato Nikkei Lions Club of San Francisco
ABOUT PICTURE BRIDE:
In her attempt to leave behind a troubled past, Riyo exchanges photographs and letters with Matsuji, a Japanese sugarcane worker in Hawai‘i, and a marriage is arranged. Upon her arrival in Hawai‘i, she discovers that her new husband bears little resemblance to the handsome young man in the photo and her world is not the paradise she expected. What ensues is a time of hardship, struggle, and unexpected joy.
Benefitting the Nichi Bei Foundation
e-mail: programs@nichibeifoundation.org
Call: (415) 294-4655
ABOUT TAMLYN TOMITA
Tamlyn Tomita made her screen debut as Kumiko in “The Karate Kid, Part II” with Ralph Macchio and Pat “Noriyuki” Morita and has since appeared in numerous feature films, television and theatre projects. She is perhaps known for her roles as Waverly in Wayne Wang’s “The Joy Luck Club” and as Kana, a Hawai‘i plantation worker in the early 1900s in Kayo Hatta’s “Picture Bride,” and starred opposite Dennis Quaid in Alan Parker’s “Come See the Paradise,” a film exploring the lives of a Japanese American family and the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Her list of film credits is a mix of studio pictures and independent films that include: “Tekken,” “The Mikado Project,” “Two Sisters” opposite Yun Jin Kim and directed by Margaret Cho; “The Day After Tomorrow”; Greg Pak’s “Robot Stories”; Robert Rodriguez’s “Four Rooms” opposite Antonio Banderas; “Living Out Loud,” Lane Nishikawa’s “Only the Brave” and the Brazilian-Japanese film “Gaijin 2 – Ama me Como Sou” alongside Nobu McCarthy in her last film. She happily reunited with her co-star, Yuji Okumoto, and can be seen in National Film Society’s “Awesome Asian Bad Guys.”
On television, Tamlyn recurs in the MTV series, “Teen Wolf,” and ABC’s “The Returned” and “How To Get Away With Murder,” and will be in the new CBS series, “Zoo,” airing this summer. She has had numerous recurring roles.
She was a cast member of the series “The Burning Zone” and “Santa Barbara” and also appeared in PBS’s “Storytime” and “Hiroshima Maiden”; and “To Heal a Nation” and “Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes.”
Tamlyn also appeared in several stage productions including: “Heart Song” (Fountain Theatre); “A Distant Shore” (Kirk Douglas Theatre); “Question 27, Question 28” (East West Players/ Japanese American National Museum); “The Square” (Mark Taper Forum’s Taper, Too); “Summer Moon” (A Contemporary Theatre and South Coast Repertory); “Day Standing on its Head” (Manhattan Theatre Club); “Nagasaki Dust” (Philadelphia Theatre Company); “Don Juan: A Meditation” (Mark Taper Forum’s Taper, Too) and “Winter Crane” (Fountain Theatre) for which she received a Drama-Logue Award.
Keeping herself busy in an industry that has been slow to receive actors of an ethnic demographic, Tamlyn is selective in the roles she chooses, steering away from images perpetuating stereotypes. She is always searching for ways to create and balance images with stories about Asian Americans. Having worked on a variety of Asian American projects such as the upcoming “The Unbidden,” “Starlight Inn,” “The Charles Kim Show,” “My Life…Disoriented”; “Day of Independence”; “Hundred Percent”; “Life Tastes Good”; “Four Fingers of the Dragon”; “Soundman”; “Requiem” and “Notes on a Scale,” Tamlyn proudly supports Asian American filmmakers and artists in the pursuit of giving the world a gallery of portraits from a golden perspective.
A resident of Los Angeles, she is always ready to lend her support to community events and organizations, and keeps her life simple, focusing on love, work and family.
ABOUT JAN YANEHIRO
Jan Yanehiro pioneered the magazine format on television as co-host of “Evening Magazine,” a nightly program in San Francisco that ran for almost 15 years on KPIX TV-CBS5. Currently she is the Director of the School of Multi Media Communications at the Academy of Art University, San Francisco. She has hosted six documentaries on the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II or redress. Jan has won multiple awards including an Emmy and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award. She is a board member of Kristi Yamaguchi’s Always Dream Foundation, SF-Osaka Sister City Association and is Board Chair of The Representation Project. She is the mother of three, and is co-author of: “This Is Not The Life I Ordered…50 Ways To Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down.”
BECOME A SPONSOR!
$100 Plumeria Individual Sponsor: One ticket to “Picture Bride” screening on Sept. 25, 2015 and “Picture Bride” DVD. Name on program booklet.
$250 Lehua Sponsor: 2 tickets to “Picture Bride” screening on Sept. 25, 2015 OR 2 tickets for the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage on Oct. 3, 2015. Name and/or logo listed on marketing materials (program booklet, promotional ad in the Nichi Bei Weekly’s 9/17 issue, promotional flyers, and event banner).
$500 Ilima Sponsor: 2 tickets to “Picture Bride” screening on Sept. 25, 2015 AND 2 tickets for the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage on Oct. 3, 2015. Name and/or logo on Website and marketing materials (program booklet, event promotional ads in the Nichi Bei Weekly’s 9/17 issue, promotional flyers, and event banner).
$1,000 Matsuji’s Orchid Sponsor: 4 tickets to “Picture Bride” screening on Sept. 25, 2015 and 4 tickets for the Nikkei Angel Island Pilgrimage on Oct. 3, 2015. Name and/or logo on Website and marketing materials (program booklet, promotional ads in the Nichi Bei Weekly’s 9/17 issue, promotional flyers, and event banner).
