14th annual Films of Remembrance Opening Day in SF Japantown
Schedule
Sat Feb 22 2025 at 11:00 am to 08:00 pm
UTC-08:00Location
AMC Kabuki 8 | San Francisco, CA
Tickets for the 14th annual Films of Remembrance, the premiere showcase of films commemorating the forced incarceration of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent in American concentration camps during World War II, are on sale now at 2025.filmsofremembrance.org.Seating is limited, so get your tickets today!
Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025
AMC Kabuki 8
1881 Post St.
San Francisco Japantown
Sunday, Feb. 23, 2025
San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin
640 N. Fifth St.
San Jose's Japantown
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Tateuchi Democracy Forum (JANM)
100 N. Central Ave.
Los Angeles' Little Tokyo
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute
1964 W. 162nd St. (Main Hall)
Gardena, Calif.
This year, thanks to Presenting Sponsorship from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program of the California State Library and The Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, Films of Remembrance is expanding from a two-day event in Northern California to a four-day event to Southern California — in partnership with the Japanese American National Museum and the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute.
A record class of 19 films — including exclusive presentations in San Francisco and Los Angeles, San Jose and Gardena — will be presented this year, from animated or narrative shorts, to feature-length documentaries, and to the epic narrative film "Kintsukuroi," the Showcase Presentation in San Francisco and Los Angeles' Little Tokyo.
Proceeds benefit the Wayne Maeda Educational Fund. Partial proceeds from tickets sales at Films of Remembrance in San Jose, Los Angeles and Gardena will be donated by the Nichi Bei Foundation to local nonprofits.
Sponsorships and donations can also be made at www.filmsofremembrance.org/sponsorships.
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PROGRAM
Feb. 22 / March 8
San Francisco / Little Tokyo
11 am Artistic Interpretations
12:45 pm Untold Stories
2:30 pm Family Histories
4:15 pm Taking a Stand
6 pm Kintsukuroi
8:15 pm Filmmakers Reception
Feb. 23 / March 9
San Jose / Gardena
11 am. Book of Remembrance:
Art Hansen's "A Nikkei Harvest" (Gardena only)
11:30 am Artistic Interpretations
1:15 pm Untold Stories
3 pm Family Histories
4:45 pm Taking a Stand
6:20 pm Songs of Remembrance (San Jose)
6:30 pm Baseball Behind Barbed Wire (Gardena)
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ARTISTIC INTERPRETATIONS
UPROOTED (4 min., 2023) by Becca Jackson. In this animation, 8-year-old Hanako and others of Japanese descent are abruptly ordered to leave their homes and possessions for deserted incarceration camps.
INFINITY! (11 min., 2023) by Benjamin To. A famous Japanese American ballroom dance duo must choose between their passion or their lives as WWII concentration camps begin to rise in the U.S.
Wakasa Spirit Stone (6 min., 2024) by Glenn Mitsui. This film delves into the legacy of James Hatsuaki Wakasa and the symbolic power of the Wakasa Monument.
Loyal American (8 min., 2024) by Haruka Sakaguchi, Sam Sheline. Produced by National Geographic Society’s Impact Story Lab, this film follows Henry Kaku’s journey as he returns to the Tule Lake Segregation Center where his family was held during WWII.
Obata’s Yosemite (15 min., 2024) by Adam Prieto. Noted artist Chiura Obata takes a turn during WWII when he, along with 120,000 others who were forcefully incarcerated.
Cactus Blossoms Revisited (21 min., 2024) by Koji Lau-Ozawa and Brynn Saito. The discovery of a set of poetry written by high school students from the Gila River concentration camp.
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UNTOLD STORIES
Murder in the High Desert (20 min., 2024) by Emiko Omori. This is a story about the discovery of a stone monument erected by inmates in 1943 to honor James Hatsuaki Wakasa, murdered by a guard, and a symbol of defiance and resistance.
Amache: An American Injustice (27 min., 2024) by Josh Banyard/North Shore Productions. Some 7,500 were held at the Amache concentration camp in SE Colorado.
A Nikkei Canadian Story (23 min., 2024) by Alice Il Shin. A Japanese Canadian recalls his life in Vancouver, captivity in Lemon Creek, and bomb-ravaged Hiroshima.
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FAMILY HISTORIES
Irei: To Console the Spirits (7 min., 2023) by Megan Martinez Goltz. Descendants of camp survivors find solace saying aloud the names of their family members.
Grandpa Cherry Blossom (8 min., 2022) by Maddox Chen. The life of Francis Uyematsu, from his journey creating a successful flower nursery in America to his time at the Manzanar concentration camp.
Snapshots of Confinement (57 min., 2024) by Esteban Gomez and Whitney Petersen. Despite the government ban on cameras, while simultaneously utilizing photography for propaganda, families found ways to document their lives.
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TAKING A STAND
Jim Matsuoka Will Not Be Rushed (5 min., 2024) by Robert Shoji. Los Angeles-based activist Jim Matsuoka testifies at the 1981 Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings.
The United States vs Takashi Hoshizaki (10 min., 2023) by Greg Sommers-Herivel. Takashi Hoshizaki decided that until he was given his civil rights back and released from the camp, he would not agree to be drafted.
Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement (55 min., 2024) by Tadashi Nakamura. A sweeping documentary that follows the life of visionary artist-activist Nobuko Miyamoto and her work that changed Asian America forever. (6:20 P.M. IN SAN JOSE)
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SAN FRANCISCO AND LOS ANGELES ONLY:
Showcase Presentation
Kintsukuroi (2 hours, 10 min., 2024) by Kerwin Berk/Ikeibi Films (ONLY in S.F., and Los Angeles). Follows members of the Ito family from their pre-war life to the concentration camps to the battlefields of Europe as they struggle to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.
Followed by Filmmakers Reception
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SAN JOSE ONLY:
4:45 p.m.: Row Don’t Drift (37 min., 2024) by Karina E. Turner. Yoshi Kubo, bitter about being stripped of his land, refused to submit to the military. In “Taking a Stand” program.
6:20 p.m.: Out of the Dust (18 min., 2024) by Yayoi Kambara. Viewers step into the Manzanar National Historic Site narrated by ghosts/dancers and the poetry of the late Janice Mirikitani. With “Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement” in Songs of Remembrance program
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GARDENA ONLY:
11 a.m.: Book of Remembrance — Southern California Launch of Arthur A. Hansen’s “A Nikkei Harvest: Reviewing the Japanese American Historical Experience and Its Legacy”
• Arthur A. Hansen in conversation with writer Naomi Hirahara.
Sponsored by George and Sakaye Aratani CARE Award and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center
FREE ADMISSION
6:30 p.m.: Baseball Behind Barbed Wire (2023, 34 min.) by Yuriko Gamo Romer. Special screening of 2024 Audience Award winner, with discussion of the Manzanar Baseball Project.
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Info/Tickets:
2025.filmsofremembrance.org
#FilmsOfRemembrance2025 #dayofremembrance #dor #neveragain #eo9066 #FilmsOfRemembrance
Where is it happening?
AMC Kabuki 8, 1881 Post Street,San Francisco, California, United States
