PILGRIMAGE, a Film by Tadashi Nakamura
VIEW EVENT DETAILSPartnerships & Collaborations
On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the internment of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. Entire communities were unjustly placed under suspicion and moved to camps overseen by the U.S. military.
One such camp near the Sierra Nevada mountains in California, Manzanar, has long been a salient reminder of the grave injustice done. Since 1969, former internees together with their families and friends have been gathering annually at the Manzanar cemetery to remember and to honor. Now, in our post-9/11 world, the journey to Manzanar is one of retrospection and solidarity for people of all ages, races, and nationalities.
Award-winning short film PILGRIMAGE shares the inspiring story of Manzanar. With a hip music track, never-before-seen archival footage, and a story-telling style that features young and old, PILGRIMAGE reveals how the Japanese American community reclaimed a national experience that had almost been deleted from public understanding and gave it new meaning for diverse generations.
PILGRIMAGE is presented in partnership with Japanese American Citizens League Houston and Holocaust Museum Houston to commemorate the signing of Executive Order 9066.
A conversation between the filmmaker; Gary Nakamura, President, Japanese American Citizens League-Houston; and Dr. Mary Lee Webeck, Director of Education, Holocaust Museum Houston, will follow the screening.
Schedule
Reception: 1:30 pm
Program: 2:00 pm
About Tadashi Nakamura
Tadashi Nakamura is a 33-year-old, fourth-generation Japanese American and second-generation filmmaker. Besides carrying on his parents' work—his mother is writer/producer Karen L. Ishizuka and his father is director Robert A. Nakamura—Tadashi seeks to tell his community's history to a new generation. A few short years ago, the Los Angeles-based filmmaker was named one of CNN's "Young People Who Rock" for being the youngest filmmaker at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival as well as one of the "30 Most Influential Asian Americans Under 30" by the popular website Angry Asian Man.