Ohanashi – The Story of Our Elders
Interviewed by filmmaker Susanne Tabata, produced by Japanese Canadian National Museum
A 10 part series of Nikkei life stories featuring Midge Ayukawa, Alfie Kamitakahara,Tak Miyazaki, Marie Katsuno, May Komiyama, Tom Sando Kuwabara and Shig Kuwabara, Shirley Omatsu, Kazue Oye, Susumu Tabata and Irene Tsuyuki. On DVD 30 to 47 minutes each. $20 each, $150 for set of 10. See here for more info.
Sleeping Tigers – The Asahi Baseball Story
Jari Osborne,2003,50 min 47 s
This feature-length documentary tells the story of the Asahi baseball team. In pre-World War II Vancouver, the team was unbeatable, winning the Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, all persons of Japanese descent in Canada were sent to internment camps. The former Asahi members survived by playing ball. Their passion was contagious and soon other players joined in, among them RCMP officials and local townspeople. As a result, the games helped break down racial and cultural barriers. This remarkable story is told with a combination of archival footage, interviews and dramatic re-enactments. $19.95
The Spirit of Taiko
The magic beat of drums has captivated people in every culture throughout time. In Japan, they call it Taiko, or “big drum.” A new genre of taiko drumming took hold in the United States in the 1960s which is now evolving into a dynamic “new” performance art. The Spirit of Taiko traces this movement through the eyes of three generations of artists, bringing this bold and dramatic music alive. $30
What Are You Anyways?
Jeff Chiba Stearns, 2005, 10 min 40 sec
Follow the adventures of the Super Nip as filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns explores his cultural background growing up a mix of Japanese and Caucasian in a small white-bred Canadian city. The short classically animated film looks at particular periods in Jeff’s life where he battled with finding an identity being a half minority – from his childhood origins to the epic showdown against the monster truck drivin’ redneck crew. A humorous yet serious story of struggle and love and finding one’s identity through the trails and tribulations of growing up. $14
Yellow Sticky Notes
Jeff Chiba Stearns, 2007, 6 min
After realizing that yellow sticky note “to do” lists were consuming his life, filmmaker Jeff Chiba Stearns decided to visually self-reflect on his filmmaking journey by animating on the same sticky notes that caused him to ignore major world events for the last nine years on over 2,300 yellow sticky notes. $12.80
