List of films about the Japanese American internment

Last updated

Feature films about the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans include:

Contents

Feature films

Documentary films

TitleRelease YearProducer(s)
442: For the Future [3] 1997Patricia Kinaga
442: Live with Honor, Die with Dignity [4] [5] 2010Junichi Suzuki
After Silence: Civil Rights and the Japanese American Experience [6] 2003Louis Shelton
All We Could Carry [7] 2011 Steven Okazaki
America at Its Best: Legacy of Two Nisei Patriots [8] 2001Vince Matsuidaira, Nisei Veterans Committee of Seattle
And Then They Came for Us [9] 2017 Abby Ginzberg and Ken Schneider (filmmaker)
The Art of Gaman: The Story Behind the Objects [10] 2010Rick Quan
Beyond Barbed Wire [11] 1997Steve Rosen, Terri DeBono
Camp Amache: The Story of an American Tragedy [12] 2007Don and Sandy Dexter
The Cats of Mirikitani 2006Linda Hattendorf
Caught in Between: What to Call Home in Times of War [13] 2004Lina Hoshino
A Challenge to Democracy 1943
ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 [14] [15] 2019Jon Osaki and Lauren Kawana
Children of the Camps [16] 1999
Citizen Tanouye [17] 2005Robert Horsting, Craig Yahata
The Color of Honor: The Japanese American Soldier in WWII [18] 1987 Loni Ding
Conscience and the Constitution [19] 2000Frank Abe
Days of Waiting 1990 Steven Okazaki
Dear Miss Breed [20] 2000Veronica Ko
Democracy Under Pressure: Japanese Americans and World War II [21] 2000Jeffrey S. Betts
A Divided Community [22] 2012Momo Yashima
Double Solitaire 1997Corey Ohama
Emi [23] 1979Frank Nesbitt, Michael Toshiyuki Ono
Encounter with the Past: American Japanese Internment in World War II [24] 1980 Tak Shindo
Enemy Alien [25] 2011Konrad Aderer
The Empty Chair[ citation needed ]2014Greg Chaney
Family Gathering 1988
Farewell to Manzanar 1973
A Flicker in Eternity [26] 2013Ann Kaneko, Sharon Yamato
Forced Out: Internment and the Enduring Damage to California Cities and Towns [27] 2003KVIE
Forsaken Fields [28] 2001Midori Sperandeo
From a Silk Cocoon [29] 2006Satsuki Ina
Fumiko Hayashida: The Woman Behind the Symbol [30] 2009Lucy Ostrander
Furusato: The Lost Village of Terminal Island [31] 2005David Meltzer
Gila River and Mama: The Ruth Mix Story [32] 2011Claire Mix
Guilty by Reason of Race [33] 1972 NBC
Heart Mountain: Three Years in an Internment Camp [34] 1994Dianne Fukami
Hidden Internment: The Art Shibayama Story [35] 2004Casey Peek, Irum Shiekh
History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige 1992 Rea Tajiri
The Idaho Homefront: Of Camps and Combat [36] 2007Jim Peck
In Time Of War [37] 2004Andrea Palpant
Interactions [38] 2000Justin Lin
Japanese Relocation 1942 Office of War Information
Jimmy Murakami—Enemy Alien2010Sé Merry Doyle
Justice Betrayed1992Gordon Lee, Honolulu JACL
The Legacy of Heart Mountain 2014 David Ono and Jeff MacIntyre
Life Interrupted: Reunion and Remembrance in Arkansas [39] 2006 Japanese American National Museum
Manzanar1972 Robert A. Nakamura
Manzanar Fishing Club 2012 Cory Shiozaki
Meeting at Tule Lake1994Scott T. Tsuchitani
Most Honorable Son [40] 2007Bill Kubota
The Music Man of Manzanar [41] 2005Brian T. Maeda
Nebraska's Nisei1998University of Nebraska
The Nisei: The Pride and the Shame1965CBS
Nisei Soldier: Standard Bearer for an Exiled People1983 Loni Ding
Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story2000Eric Paul Fournier
Passing Poston2008Joe Fox
A Personal Matter: Gordon Hirabayashi vs. the United States1992John de Graaf
Pilgrimage2006Tad Nakamura
Prejudice and Patriotism: Americans of Japanese Ancestry in the Military Intelligence Service of WWII1998
Prisoners and Patriots: The Untold Story of Japanese Internment in Santa Fe2011Neil H. Simon
Rabbit in the Moon1999Emiko Omori
Relocation, Arkansas[ citation needed ]2015Vivienne Schiffer
Remembering Manzanar2004 National Park Service
Rescued By Fate2014Christopher HK Lee
Return to the Valley: Japanese American Experience After WWII2003Scott Gracheff
Searchlight Serenade2012Claire Reynolds
Shikata Ga Nai: An Inconvenient American [42] 2019Lauren Yanase
The Silent Glory2000Zed Merrill
Something Strong Within1994 Japanese American National Museum
Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story 2004John Esaki
Take Me Home: A Child's Experience of Internment2005David Tanner, Andrea Palpant
Tanforan: From Race Track to Assembly Center1994Dianne Fukami
Time of Fear2004Sue Williams
To Be Takei 2014
Topaz 1945
Topaz1988KUED
Toyo's Camera: Japanese American History During WWII2009Junichi Suzuki
Unfinished Business 1985 Steven Okazaki
The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i2012Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i
When You're Smiling: The Deadly Legacy of Internment1999Janice D. Tanaka
Winter in My Soul1986Bob Nellis, KTWO
Without Due Process: A Documentary about America's Concentration Camps2001Brian Beanblossom
Valor With Honor [43] 2008Burt Takeuchi
Visible Target1985Cris Anderson, John de Graaf
Yankee Samurai1985Katriel Schory
Yuri Kochiyama: Passion for Justice [44] 1993Pat Saunders, Rea Tajiri

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manzanar</span> World War II Japanese-American internment camp in California

Manzanar is the site of one of ten American concentration camps, where more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II from March 1942 to November 1945. Although it had over 10,000 inmates at its peak, it was one of the smaller internment camps. It is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains in California's Owens Valley, between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, approximately 230 miles (370 km) north of Los Angeles. Manzanar means "apple orchard" in Spanish. The Manzanar National Historic Site, which preserves and interprets the legacy of Japanese American incarceration in the United States, was identified by the United States National Park Service as the best-preserved of the ten former camp sites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internment of Japanese Americans</span> World War II mass incarceration in the US

During World War II, the United States forcibly relocated and incarcerated about 120,000 people of Japanese descent in ten concentration camps operated by the War Relocation Authority (WRA), mostly in the western interior of the country. Approximately two-thirds of the detainees were United States citizens. These actions were initiated by Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, following Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Guam, the Philippines, and Wake Island in December 1941. Before the war, about 127,000 Japanese Americans lived in the continental United States, of which about 112,000 lived on the West Coast. About 80,000 were Nisei and Sansei. The rest were Issei immigrants born in Japan, who were ineligible for citizenship. In Hawaii, where more than 150,000 Japanese Americans comprised more than one-third of the territory's population, only 1,200 to 1,800 were incarcerated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War Relocation Authority</span> U.S. government agency created to intern Japanese Americans during WWII

The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was the only refugee camp set up in the United States for refugees from Europe. The agency was created by Executive Order 9102 on March 18, 1942, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and was terminated June 26, 1946, by order of President Harry S. Truman.

<i>Farewell to Manzanar</i> Book by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston

Farewell to Manzanar is a memoir published in 1973 by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston and James D. Houston. The book describes the experiences of Jeanne Wakatsuki and her family before, during, and following their relocation to the Manzanar internment camp due to the United States government's internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It was adapted into a made-for-TV movie in 1976 starring Yuki Shimoda, Nobu McCarthy, James Saito, Pat Morita, and Mako.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Mountain Relocation Center</span> Historic place in Wyoming, United States

The Heart Mountain War Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain and located midway between the northwest Wyoming towns of Cody and Powell, was one of ten concentration camps used for the internment of Japanese Americans evicted during World War II from their local communities in the West Coast Exclusion Zone by the executive order of President Franklin Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gila River War Relocation Center</span> Internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II

The Gila River War Relocation Center was an American concentration camp in Arizona, one of several built by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) during the Second World War for the incarceration of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. It was located within the Gila River Indian Reservation near the town of Sacaton, about 30 mi (48.3 km) southeast of Phoenix. With a peak population of 13,348, it became the fourth-largest city in the state, operating from May 1942 to November 16, 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minidoka National Historic Site</span> Historic site in Idaho, USA

Minidoka National Historic Site is a National Historic Site in the western United States. It commemorates the more than 13,000 Japanese Americans who were imprisoned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center during the Second World War. Among the inmates, the notation 峰土香 or 峯土香 was sometimes applied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topaz War Relocation Center</span> United States historic place

The Topaz War Relocation Center, also known as the Central Utah Relocation Center (Topaz) and briefly as the Abraham Relocation Center, was an American concentration camp in which Americans of Japanese descent and immigrants who had come to the United States from Japan, called Nikkei were incarcerated. President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, ordering people of Japanese ancestry to be incarcerated in what were euphemistically called "relocation centers" like Topaz during World War II. Most of the people incarcerated at Topaz came from the Tanforan Assembly Center and previously lived in the San Francisco Bay Area. The camp was opened in September 1942 and closed in October 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerome War Relocation Center</span> Detainee camp in Arkansas, United States

The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas, near the town of Jerome in the Arkansas Delta. Open from October 6, 1942, until June 30, 1944, it was the last American concentration camp to open and the first to close. At one point it held as many as 8,497 detainees. After closing, it was converted into a holding camp for German prisoners of war. Today, few remains of the camp are visible, as the wooden buildings were taken down. The smokestack from the hospital incinerator still stands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohwer War Relocation Center</span> World War II internment camp for Japanese-Americans

The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American concentration camp located in rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942, until November 30, 1945, and held as many as 8,475 Japanese Americans forcibly evacuated from California. Among the inmates, the notation "朗和" was sometimes applied. The Rohwer War Relocation Center Cemetery is located here, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

On February 19, 1942, shortly after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the forced removal of over 110,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast and into internment camps for the duration of the war. The personal rights, liberties, and freedoms of Japanese Americans were suspended by the United States government. In the "relocation centers", internees were housed in tar-papered army-style barracks. Some individuals who protested their treatment were sent to a special camp at Tule Lake, California.

The following article focuses on the movement to obtain redress for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, and significant court cases that have shaped civil and human rights for Japanese Americans and other minorities. These cases have been the cause and/or catalyst to many changes in United States law. But mainly, they have resulted in adjusting the perception of Asian immigrants in the eyes of the American government.

Robert Akira Nakamura is a filmmaker and teacher, sometimes referred to as "the Godfather of Asian American media." In 1970 he cofounded Visual Communications (VC) the oldest community-based Asian Pacific American media arts organization in the United States.

Togo "Walter" Tanaka was an American newspaper journalist and editor who reported on the difficult conditions in the Manzanar camp, where he was one of 110,000 Japanese Americans who had been relocated after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manzanar Children's Village</span>

The Manzanar Children's Village was an orphanage for children of Japanese ancestry incarcerated during World War II as a result of Executive Order 9066, under which President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast of the United States. Contained within the Manzanar concentration camp in Owens Valley, California, it held a total of 101 orphans from June 1942 to September 1945.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estelle Peck Ishigo</span> American artist

Estelle Ishigo, née Peck, was an American artist known for her watercolors, pencil and charcoal drawings, and sketches. During World War II she and her husband were incarcerated at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center in Wyoming. She subsequently wrote about her experiences in Lone Heart Mountain and was the subject of the Oscar winning documentary Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ralph Lazo</span> American teacher and activist

Ralph Lazo was the only known non-spouse, non-Japanese American who voluntarily relocated to a Japanese American internment camp during World War II. His experience was the subject of the 2004 narrative short film Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story.

Mary Kageyama Nomura is an American singer of Japanese descent who was relocated and incarcerated for her ancestry at the Manzanar concentration camp during World War II and became known as The songbird of Manzanar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Mon Toy</span> Japanese American actress and entertainer

Mary Mon Toy was a Japanese American actress, showgirl, and secretary. She is best known for her role in the Broadway production of The World of Suzie Wong as Minnie Ho.

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