The 9th annual Boston Asian American Film Festival runs from October 19th to the 22rd. Three Four films in this year's festival have Japanese American themes. I'm very excited that Japanese American filmmaker Konrad Aderer is returning to Boston for the New England premiere of Resistance at Tule Lake, this year's Centerpiece Film. The last time he was in Boston was five years ago when his first documentary, Enemy Alien, was co-presented by BAAFF at the 2012 Boston Palestine Film Festival. Check out the other films here.
It Is What It Is 2016 | 8 mins | Documentary| Japanese-Iranian
Directed by Cyrus Yoshi Tabar
It
is What it Is Filmmaker Cyrus Yoshi Tabar, a first-generation
Iranian-Japanese-American, has a photo of his grandparents holding him
as an infant. The photo captures his first and last encounter with
them. Seeking to understand the fracture in his family, Cyrus embarks
on a journey into the dark and nebulous corners of family history.
Fragmented and cloudy images of his family speckle his investigation
as he talks to his aunt and sister, but discovers that a family’s
narrative isn’t linear and that truth’s elusive.
Dorothy Takahashi, a Japanese American dancer born in 1917, performed under the stage name Dorothy Toy with her partner Paul Wing. During WWII, her family was incarcerated at Topaz. Dorothy escaped incarceration by going to New York with Paul. She was believed by many to be Chinese but gossip columnists outed her as Japanese, costing her film roles. Dancing Through Life tells her story.
NBC News: Dorothy Toy, the ‘Chinese Ginger Rogers,’ Found Stardom Amid World War II
99
year old Dorothy Toy Fong is a living dance legend. She began as a
child after a vaudeville theater manager noticed her dancing in front of
her parent's restaurant. During the 1930's, 40's and 50's, she teamed
up with Paul Wing and would eventually become the most famous Asian
American dance duo in this country's history. Known for dancing on her
toes, she developed a unique, athletic style of performing. Toy and Wing
were pioneers, performing on Broadway and in Hollywood films. They were
also the first Asian Americans to dance at the London Palladium.
Koji
Oshima is the proud owner of a small corner grocery store, but he must
now abandon everything and report to an assembly center. His belongings,
his business – everything must be sold or left behind, except what he
can carry in one large duffel bag.
Up against a wall, Koji
receives only one low-ball offer for his store, which he has no choice
but to accept. The lone bright spot during this turmoil is the
friendship Koji develops with a precocious nine-year-old girl. On the
day of his departure, however, Koji is saddened to learn that even this
friendship has been tainted by the larger forces of fear and wartime
hysteria.
This is director Konrad Aderer's second feature length documentary about the Japanese American incarceration. Although Konrad's family was incarcerated at other camps, he told me that he chose Tule Lake as the subject of his film because he said he's always been interested in the Japanese and Japanese Americans who resisted.
2017 | 80 mins | Documentary | Japanese-American
Directed by Konrad Aderer
RESISTANCE
AT TULE LAKE tells the long-suppressed story of 12,000 Japanese
Americans who dared to resist the U.S. government's program of mass
incarceration during World War II. Branded as 'disloyals' and
re-imprisoned at Tule Lake Segregation Center, they continued to protest
in the face of militarized violence, and thousands renounced their U.S.
citizenship. Giving voice to experiences that have been marginalized
for over 70 years, this documentary challenges the nationalist,
one-sided ideal of wartime 'loyalty'.
See trailers for 14 films in this year's festival:
Edit History
10/17/17 10:59pm: Added It Is What It Is. Not sure How I missed it!
