Following two years of online-only programming, the Nichi Bei Foundation held its 12th annual Films of Remembrance film series in person at the AMC Kabuki 8 in San Francisco’s Japantown Feb. 25 and the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin in San Jose’s Japantown Feb. 26. According to Kenji G. Taguma, president of the Nichi Bei […]
Ordinary citizens’ extraordinary deeds come to life in ‘The Art of Activism’ program
February 17, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Ordinary citizens’ extraordinary deeds come to life in this year’s Films of Remembrance “The Art of Activism” program presented by the Nichi Bei Foundation. Here’s a preview of the short films: ‘Stamp Our Story’ (2022, 19 min.) by Kaia Rose and Robert M. Horsting Three Nisei women were on a mission, and they were not […]
Film examines civil disobedience in the camps
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
The Nichi Bei Foundation will screen “We Said No! No! A Story of Civil Disobedience,” a J-Town Pictures documentary by filmmaker Brian Maeda, highlighting the civil disobedience in America’s World War II concentration camps that imprisoned Japanese Americans. The film screens in San Francisco’s Japantown on Feb. 25 and in San Jose’s Japantown on Feb. […]
A rose blooms, a garden’s history is uncovered, and history is dug up in ‘Rooted in History Program’
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
“Rooted in History” is the theme of a Nichi Bei Foundation Films of Remembrance program featuring three short documentary films focusing on a blooming rose, a Japanese garden and the literal digging up of history. Here’s a preview of the films: ‘Amache Rose’ (2022, 29 min.) by Billy Kanaly At the beginning of Billy Kanaly’s […]
Three films that transcend time ‘Rediscover History’
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
As those who lived through the wartime incarceration experience grow older and fewer in number, a new generation of Japanese Americans are coming of age. In the 12th annual Films of Remembrance film showcase, the “Rediscovering History Program” examines three films reflecting on the wartime incarceration’s impact beyond the concentration camps. The block features one […]
VIRTUAL-ONLY PROGRAM: Life After Camp
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Three films will be available to screen virtually from Feb. 25 through March 12 at www.filmsofremembrance.org. In this program: “Enduring Democracy: The Monterey Petition” (2022, 67 min.) by David Schendel. The film examines how Monterey, Calif. was one of the only communities that publicly welcomed their Japanese neighbors back from the incarceration centers after WWII. […]
‘Before They Take Us Away’ tells the story of JAs during WWII that you may not be familiar with
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
The history of Japanese American incarceration isn’t as unknown or forgotten as it used to be. Many more people today know about how more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry were sent to 10 concentration camps hastily built in inhospitable places in the American interior, away from their homes along the West Coast, during World […]
‘When You Leave’ explores the separation of friends and family in camps
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
Writer-director Jason Yamamoto’s short film “When You Leave” focuses on Japanese American incarceration from a different perspective, exploring the emotional bonds that break when family members and friends take divergent paths from the close confinement of camp life. The film opens with a young man, Yukio, working as a farm laborer for two weeks. Then […]
Films of Remembrance, returns to S.F., S.J. Feb. 25-26
February 16, 2023 by Leave a Comment
The Nichi Bei Foundation presents the 12th annual Films of Remembrance, a showcase of films on the forced removal and incarceration of the Japanese American community in wartime concentration camps, on Saturday, Feb. 25 at the AMC Kabuki 8 in San Francisco’s Japantown and Sunday, Feb. 26 at the San Jose Betsuin Buddhist Church in […]
‘Voices’ brings Hawai‘i story to life
February 17, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, FBI agents appeared at Japanese American homes with guns and bayonets and began arresting Issei immigrants without cause and threw them in local jails. “They just grabbed him,” said Laura Miho, remembering how the FBI took her father, Koichi Iida. “We were all so scared. We […]
Connect & Share