Posted on: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Short films center on Japanese experience

Advertiser Staff

Two award-winning short films, both telling World War II stories from Japanese and Japanese-American perspectives, will be screened at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hemenway Theater at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa.

"Visas and Virtue," a 26-minute drama that received an Academy Award in addition to many other honors, pays tribute to Holocaust rescuer Chiune "Sempo" Sugihara, sometimes described as "the Japanese Schindler." Sugihara defied his own government's orders and issued more than 2,000 transit visas from his post in Lithuania in 1940, allowing an estimated 6,000 Jews to escape Nazi persecution.

Also showing will be "Day of Independence," which follows a young nisei baseball player facing separation from his dying father, set in a World War II Japanese-American internment camp. Based on personal family history, the 27-minute film won more than 20 international awards at film festivals and competitions this year and drew a sellout crowd at the Hawaii International Film Festival.

Both films were produced by Cedar Grove Productions of Los Angeles, headed by writer/producer Tim Toyama and director Chris Tashima. They will attend Friday's event for a question-and-answer session following the screening.

Veterans and their families will be admitted free to the screening, and a $10 donation will be asked of others. Souvenir items will be sold as part of the fund-raiser.

Parking is available on campus for $3.

For information, contact Stacey Hayashi at 833-7713 or stacey@442movie.com; find further film detail at www.cedargroveproductions.com.