ONLINE FILM FESTIVAL OF TADAIMA 2021

Representations of Japanese-ness in Hollywood Film Block

The Dragon Painter

Dir. William Worthington | 53 mins | 1919

Starring Japanese immigrant Sessue Hayakawa, this early Hollywood silent film is a fantasy romance about love and creative inspiration. Tatsu (Hayakawa) is a reclusive painter who lives in the mountains of Japan painting images of the dragon princess he loved in another life. Tatsu comes to believe the daughter of a wealthy art collector is his lost princess, but as he finds happiness in love, his art begins to suffer. 

In his prime Hayakawa was as popular as Charlie Chaplin, as rich as Douglas Fairbanks, and to this day the only Asian American to own his own Hollywood studio. Fed up with the self-proclaimed Orientalist roles that Hayakawa was being cast in by the major studios such as Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Cheat”, he decided to go out on his own by founding Haworth Pictures Corporation where he subsequently released nineteen films between the years of 1918-1922. 

Although set in Japan, the film was shot on location in Yosemite National Park and stars a predominantly Japanese American cast, including Hayakawa’s wife Tsuru Aoki. Produced by Hayakawa’s own studio, The Dragon Painter deliberately strived to provide an authentic perspective on Japanese culture that counters the dominant narrative of stereotypes, violence, and melodramatic conflict expected in so-called “Oriental” films of the period. For these reasons it is considered it to be one of the first Asian American film in history. 

In advance of the 100th anniversary of the film’s release, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival commissioned indie rock musician Goh Nakamura to compose a new original soundtrack to the film in 2017, which is presented with this version of the film.

Sayonara

Dir. Joshua Logan | 147 mins | 1957

Stationed in Japan during the Korean War, U.S. Air Force Major Lloyd "Ace" Gruver (Marlon Brando) falls for the beautiful Japanese actress Hana-ogi (Miiko Taka). However, he is hesitant to pursue the relationship due to the unfortunate example of his crew chief, Airman Joe Kelly. Kelly, against official military advice and the prejudices of his commanding officers, married a Japanese woman, Katsumi (Miyoshi Umeki), and his military career has suffered ever since.

Similar to Japanese War Bride, this film explores and dispels the taboo related to interracial marriage between white American soldiers and Japanese women that became prevalent during the postwar Occupation of Japan and Korean War.

Bridge to the Sun

Dir. Etienne Perier | 113 mins | 1961

Based on a true story, this compelling drama relates the difficulties of a young woman married to a Japanese diplomat during World War II, victim of suspicion and animosity from her husband's government.

Remembrance and Interpretation Film Block

History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige

Dir Rea Tajiri | 32 mins |1991

Groundbreaking and haunting, this film is a poetic composition of recorded history and non-recorded memory. Ruminating on the difficult nature of representing the past - especially a past that exists outside traditional historic accounts - Tajiri blends interviews, memorabilia, a pilgrimage to the camp where her mother was interned, and the story of her father, who had been drafted pre-Pearl Harbor and returned to find his family's house removed from its site. Throughout, she surveys the impact of images (real images, desired images made real, and unrealized dream images).

Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice

Dir Rea Tajiri | 57 mins | 1993

Biography in political and social context of Yuri Kochiyama, an Asian American woman and humanitarian civil rights activist who first became aware of social injustice in the United States during her time in a Japanese American internment camp during World War II.

Picture Bride

Dir. Kayo Hatta | 94 mins | 1994

After the father of Riyo (Youki Kudoh) dies, she becomes the arranged wife of Matsuji (Akira Takayama), a migrant worker in Hawaii. Riyo travels from Japan to the United States, but finds it difficult adapting to the hard life working on a sugar plantation and living with Matsuji. Riyo becomes friends with another woman, Kana (Tamlyn Tomita), who came over as a bride as well. Riyo begins saving money to return to Japan, but tragic events make her evaluate where she belongs. With special guest appearances by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Toshiro Mifune, this film was the first feature length movie written, directed, and produced by an all Japanese American women led crew. 

The Cats of Mirikitani

Dir. Linda Hattendorf | 74 mins | 2006

Eighty-year-old Jimmy Mirikitani survived the trauma of WWII internment camps, Hiroshima, and homelessness by creating art. But when 9/11 threatens his life on the New York City streets and a local filmmaker brings him to her home, the two embark on a journey to confront Jimmy's painful past. An intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing powers of friendship and art, this documentary won the Audience Award at its premiere in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.

A Bitter Legacy

Dir. Claudia Katayanagi | 70 mins | 2016

The Japanese American incarceration camps are a widely known shame. Less known is that some camps were secret prisons to isolate US citizen “troublemakers” from other prisoners.

These Citizen Isolation Centers are now considered precursors to the Guantanamo Bay prison. We must stand up and prevent this painful chapter of American history from being repeated today.

meeting at tule lake

Dir. Scott Tsuchitani | 33 mins | 1994

Among the ten Japanese Internment that imprisoned 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II, Tule Lake Segregation Center was the site for over 18,000 "disloyals." Fifty years later, seven former internees discuss their past and how they came to terms with their identity, politically and socially, both during and after their camp experience. The viewer is challenged to reconsider what loyalty and citizenship really mean in a country deeply rooted in a history of racism. Created to be shown during a pilgrimage to Tule Lake in 1994, Meeting At Tule Lake is the result of a community studies approach to research, teaching, and filmmaking.

Double Solitaire

Dir. Corey Ohama | 20 mins | 1998

In Double Solitaire, the filmmaker uses the motif of games to tell the story of her Japanese American father and uncle’s incarceration as children in an internment camp during WWII, and the legacy of that experience up to the present day, including the effect of Redress and Reparations. Although initially the men say that the experience didn’t affect them that much, closer examination reveals painful episodes and a sense of shame that manifested as a pervasive silence around the experience. The film is a quest on the family level to bring the experience forward and then integrate it into family history, mirroring the movement on a national level to also acknowledge and integrate this experience into U.S. history.

Reconciliation Film Block

Samurai in the Oregon Sky

Dir. Ilana Sol | 48 mins | 2019

In 1942, Japanese pilot Nobuo Fujita catapulted his seaplane off of a submarine, flew over the forests of southern Oregon, and conducted the only manned aerial bombings of the United States mainland during WWII. He never dreamed he would one day be invited back to the region, where he would begin a 35-year friendship with the people of a small Oregon town. "Samurai in the Oregon Sky" tells the story of how Mr. Fujita came to refer to his former target as his second home.

When the Fog Clears

Dir. Tadashi Ogawa | 80 mins | 2018

There are places in this world where you could never return. Among these are Kiska and Attu islands, which are part of the Aleutian chain in the North Pacific Ocean. Covered by dense fog almost all year round, these two islands were the only American territory occupied by Japan during World War II. Although more than 6000 people lost their lives there, not many know about this battlefront. It is the “Forgotten War.” To make this “Forgotten War” unforgettable, this film follows the path of this conflict to find the untold story and sheds light on the personal stories of individuals whose lives changed forever.

Yokosuka 1953 - Journey to her mother in memory

Dir. Tsuyoshi Kigawa | 52 mins | 2020

The name of the director of this documentary is Kigawa Tsuyoshi. Just through having the same family name as Kigawa, he met YOKO. She was born in Yokosuka during the turmoil of post-war Japan and was adopted to the U.S. YOKO know how deep her mother's love for her; however, she had to be adopted and moved to the United States. She hadn't heard from her mother nor meet her more than 66 years. The director searched for her mother's whereabouts and invited YOKO to Japan. The journey to find her mother begins.

A House in the Garden: Shofuso and Modernism

Dir. Nadia hironaka | 36 mins | 2020

Distinctive architecture, working with a close connection to land and nature, centered by a deep respect for the architecture and craft traditions of Japan, as well as the early buildings and landscapes of Pennsylvania — this was the common ground for a tight-knit circle of artists and architects who expanded the parameters of modernism in the Philadelphia region and beyond. Shofuso and Modernism focuses on the artistic interconnections between renowned woodworker and architect George Nakashima, the husband and wife design team of Antonin Raymond and Noémi Pernessin Raymond, along with Junzo Yoshimura — the first in a line of Japanese architects to find success in both Japan and in the United States.

Social Justice and Inter-ethnic Solidarity Film Block

Out of State

Dir. Ciara Lacy | 82 mins | 2017

OUT OF STATE is the story of outcasts, of native Hawaiian prisoners shipped 3,000 miles across the ocean to a for-profit prison in the desert of Arizona. In this unlikely setting, these men discover their fierce indigenous dances, inspiring two students to fight to turn their lives around upon release.

Manzanar Diverted

Dir. Ann Kaneko | 84 mins | 2021

From the majestic peaks of the snow-capped Sierras to the parched valley of Payahuunadü, “the land of flowing water,” MANZANAR, DIVERTED: WHEN WATER BECOMES DUST poetically weaves together memories of intergenerational women. Native Americans, Japanese-American WWII incarcerees and environmentalists form an unexpected alliance to defend their land and water from Los Angeles.

Japanese Identity and Cultural Perspectives Film Block

Durham vs. Everybody

Dir. G Yamazawa | 3 mins

This short video was produced as a promo for hip hop artist and spoken-word poet G Yamazawa's album that was released in December 2020. On Thursday September 2 at 5pm ET, join Tadaima film festival curator Rob Buscher for a livestreamed conversation with G Yamazawa as they discuss this and several of Yamazawa’s music videos that explore his myriad identity as a Shin-Nisei Japanese American who was born and raised in Durham North Carolina.

Hafu: The Mixed-Race Experience in Japan

Dir. Megumi Nishikura, Lara Perez-Takagi | 90 mins | 2013

A journey into the intricacies of mixed-race Japanese and their multicultural experiences in modern day Japan. For some hafus, Japan is the only home they know, for some living in Japan is an entirely new experience, and the others are caught somewhere between two different worlds.

Family Ingredients: Okinawa - Soki Soba

Dir. Ty Sanga | 26 mins | 2016

Hisae Uki of Sun Noodle travels to her ancestral home of Okinawa to explore the origin of "Saki-Soba", accompanied by Host Ed Kenney.

Family Ingredients: Japan – Miso Soup

Dir. Ty Sanga | 26 mins | 2016

Hawaiian chefs Ed Kenney and Alan Wong travel to Japan to search for the finest ingredients and dive deep into a bowl of Wong's favorite childhood dish, miso soup.