From Community Son to Sundance
The Yonsei 'Pilgrimage' filmmaker has his roots grounded and his talent in place.
Tad Nakamura is part of a filmmaking dynasty. His parents, Karen Ishizuka and Robert A. Nakamura, have made over 20 documentary films on everything from legendary Japanese American photographers to beat poets. His dad is also known as the godfather of Asian Pacific American media, but the 27-year-old never really felt any pressure.
"I'm really proud of being the son of the godfather," said Tad. In fact, he's the first one to admit that having parents in the biz opens up a lot of doors, especially for a first time filmmaker.
But it's Tad's own talent that shines through in the end. His latest short documentary "Pilgrimage" works like a musical ode to the young JA leaders of the 1960s who helped transform Manzanar from a place of shame to a symbol of solidarity. In it, a young Warren Furutani rocks a shag hairdo and clenched fists while APA musical artists drop hip-hop beats.
"It's not a boring A&E documentary."
Last month, "Pilgrimage" beat out over 5,000 other submissions to screen at the Sundance Film Festival. Tad had been to Sundance before to support his parents' film projects, but this time he was the filmmaker in the spotlight.
For 30 minutes after he got his official nametag, Tad felt like he was floating on air.
"Luckily I was there with my family and eight of my football friends who grounded me," he said. "We were able to have snowball fights in the streets and stuff."
Born Into the Community
The year Tad was born, his parents were making "Hito-Hata: Raise the Banner," a feature-length film about the evolution of the JA community from the turn of the century to the 1980s. They needed a baby for the evacuation scene, so nine-week-old Tad made his film debut.
"That was my first and last acting job."
Before becoming filmmakers, Tad's parents were always community and political activists. Growing up in Culver City, Calif., all of his non-related aunties and uncles were involved in the APA community.
He played in the JA basketball league, but dreamt of breaking into the National Football League. At Culver City High School, Tad played the strong safety and tailback positions.
But sports gradually gave way to political activism in college. As an undergraduate Asian American Studies major at the University of California, Los Angeles, Tad began tutoring and coaching youth. He was leaning towards a career as a community organizer when he found himself in a crunch for a good grade - so he took his dad's class.
Robert, an AA Studies professor at UCLA, was teaching a documentary filmmaking class. It was there that Tad learned the fundamentals of filmmaking and made his first critically acclaimed short, "Yellow Brotherhood."
Yes, he also got a good grade.
The Journey to 'Pilgrimage' and Beyond
For his sophomore effort, Tad again worked with his parents, who were able to turn off the "mom and dad mode" when needed.
Karen helped secure interviews and funding while Robert went over scenes with Tad.
"Those are the moments I cherish - staying up all night and talking to my dad about a craft I was falling in love with."
Tad's style is all his own. Visually, he's influenced by music videos and he counts Tupac Shakur, OutKast and the Beastie Boys as some of his favorites. In "Pilgrimage," stark evacuation photos are set to the haunting lyrics of Portishead. Some older Nisei have suggested Tad replace hip-hop with Motown.
"It's the generation gap," he said.
"Pilgrimage" was made for about $50,000 with major grants from the Center for Asian American Media, the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program and UCLA.
When Tad started making the film he thought everyone already knew about the World War II JA camps, but after screening "Pilgrimage" at different venues across the U.S., he realized he grew up in a unique environment.
"Schools don't educate younger generations about JA internment history. It's important to draw the line to present day events like anti-immigration legislation, post Sept. 11th anti-Muslim sentiment and the general fear of others," he said.
"As a fourth generation Japanese American, I wasn't put in camp, but I still feel the legacy. We lost a lot of our culture because of the shame that was placed on our community. I can see down the line Muslim Americans converting their religion or teaching their children to speak a certain way.
"We really need to expand the idea [of the internment] beyond the fact that it was wrong what happened to us. Yeah, it was good that the community spoke out and got redress. But what good does redress mean if 20 years later, people are getting treated the same way?" he added.
Now, Tad is working on his Master's degree in social documentation at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He is also working on "A Song for Ourselves," a short film about the late Sansei singer Chris Iijima, a family friend, who passed away in 2005. "Song" will be Tad's third in a trilogy of short films.
"Chris is a huge hero of mine," he said.
His fantasy project, however, goes back to his football roots. He wants to do a feature length documentary about Carson High School's football team, which is made of mostly Samoan players.
"I want to follow them for a season," he said. "I love sports and sports film."
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