John Esaki

The film looks back at the life of a man named Oda and other Japanese Americans through the decades as they face great challenges and joys living in the United States.

They speak the same language, share a similar culture and once belonged to a single nation. When the Korean War ended in 1953, ten million families were torn apart. By the early 90s, as the rest of the world celebrated the end of the Cold War, Koreans remain separated between North and South, fearing the threat of mutual destruction. Beginning with one man's journey to reunite with his sister in North Korea, filmmakers Takagi and Choy reveal the personal, social and political dimensions of one of the last divided nations on earth. The film was also the first US project to get permission to film in both South & North Korea.

The thirty-year acting career of the late Yuki Shimoda reflects the achievements and career disappointments that faced Asian American actors. Shimoda persevered on to land challenging, dramatic roles, such as in the television movie, Farewell to Manzanar. Shimoda’s journey from Sacramento’s “J-Town,” to his imprisonment in an American concentration camp, and his experiences on Broadway and Hollywood are insightfully explored through interviews and selected clips from his film and television work.

Wakako Yamauchi, Momo Nagano, and Mary Nomura were teenagers when they were interned in concentration camps during World War II. Behind barbed wire, their creative spirits remained undaunted—their lives fortified by art, music, and literature. Words, Weaves, and Songs profiles the three women artists on their art, personal stories, and experiences of internment.