Description

Every year, a contingent of Japanese Americans travel to the southern Arkansas town of McGehee to visit former Japanese internment camps, a trip that helps them move forward from a painful past. In RELOCATION ARKANSAS, internees from the Rohwer and Jerome camps and their families share the emotional weight they carry in post-World War II America. The film explores this trauma and how it ripples through generations of Japanese Americans.

Anchoring the documentary are second- and third-generation Japanese American families like the Takemotos, who find themselves torn between their Japanese and American cultural identities and trying to understand their history after being interned. RELOCATION ARKANSAS also highlights former McGehee Mayor Rosalie Gould, who fights to maintain accessibility to the Rowher and Jerome camps in an effort to commemorate those who were interned, to better understand our history and to prevent similar atrocities from happening again. Many who were interned buried the experience, never talking about it. RELOCATION ARKANSAS is a touching testament to the strength of individuals who overcome injustice and try to reconcile with one’s own identity in a diverse and complicated America.

— Laura Priscilla Paule

Expected Guests in Attendance: Vivienne Schiffer (Director/Writer/Producer)

Co-presented by: Fred T. Korematsu Institute, Human Rights Campaign, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Nichi Bei Foundation

Credits

Co-Director: Johanna Demetrakas
Executive Producer: Vivienne Schiffer
Writer: Vivienne Schiffer
Cinematographer: Pablo Bryant, John Carrithers
Editor: Linda Hattendorf
Music: Amman Abbasi

Preceded By

1. 

   When Rabbit Left The Moon

   Emiko Omori / Special Presentations / USA / 2016 / 14 mins

   Omori pays homage to the generation of her parents.

   Precedes: Relocation, Arkansas — Aftermath of Incarceration

   ---

Website Copyright © CAAMFest2017 & Gala Festival Engine