"For The Sake Of The Children"
NEW DOCUMENTARY EXPLORES IMPACTS OF JAPANESE AMERICAN INCARCERATION ON DETAINEES AND THEIR DESCENDANTS
The public is invited to participate in a screening and panel discussion of the new documentary film, “For the Sake of the Children,” on October 28 (Sunday). The community event will be held at the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin at 640 North Fifth Street, in San Jose’s Japantown at 4pm.
The Poston Community Alliance is co-sponsoring the documentary with Midori Kai, Inc., San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin and the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.
Poston was one of ten concentration camps that imprisoned more than 120,000 Japanese American citizens and Japanese immigrants living in California, Oregon and Washington State following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Their incarceration was authorized by President Franklin D. Roosevelt through Executive Order 9066 signed on February 19, 1942.
The film’s executive producer, Marlene Shigekawa, was born in the Poston Concentration Camp near Parker, Arizona and is president of the Poston Community Alliance. “This project began in 2012 as an outgrowth of my own family’s incarceration at the Poston camp and the traumatic impacts from that experience which have resonated throughout my entire life. As I delved deeper into my own story, I connected with four generations of descendants as well as families from the other camps whose stories also needed to be shared,” Shigekawa explained.
Initially conceived to focus specifically on mothers who gave birth to and raised children while incarcerated at Poston, the documentary was eventually expanded to include family stories from other camps after the Alliance received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Previous screenings have been in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Missoula, Montana, Fresno, Sacramento and Larkspur. Shigekawa produced the film with director Joe Fox and Directors of Photography, James Nubile and Sean Dolan of Fly on the Wall Productions.
The Poston Community Alliance works to preserve the stories, artifacts and historic structures of the concentration camp. The Alliance is currently leading an effort to stabilize original classrooms at the Poston Camp I Elementary School site and create a visitor center.
For more information about the film and the Poston Community Alliance, visit www.forthesakeofchildren.org.
Panelists joining the post-screening discussion will include Patty Tsubokawa Reeves and Stephanie Gillman, cast members, and Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic. The moderator will be Robert Handa, news reporter, NBC Bay Area News.
There is no admission fee for this screening although RSVPs are requested. Donations for the screening will be accepted and benefit the four sponsoring organizations: Poston Community Alliance, Midori Kai, Inc., San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin and the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.
Please text reservation to (925) 596-1770. Contact Marlene Shigekawa (510) 290-1944, for any questions regarding this event.