The approach taken by director Alice Il Shin and producer Eiko Kawabe Brown deepens the emotional impact of their film. It is both a deeply personal and political story of war, internment camps, racial discrimination, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, belated apologies, and reconciliation conveyed with passion and modesty by Henry “Rusty” Shibata, who managed to survive it all to become a doctor who has lived to the age of 94. The film sustains a reflective mood. It is artfully composed and well-paced with unexpected twists in the narrative that keep a viewer wondering what will happen next. A NIKKEI CANADIAN STORY is important history well told with an artful touch.
— Stephen Talbot ((Former Documentary Producer at PBS)
Title: A Nikkei Canadian Story (previous working title: Home and Native Lands)
Format/Genre/Production Country: Documentary, History, Canada
Language: English
Lengths: 23min
Logline: A Japanese Canadian recalls his life in Vancouver, captivity in Lemon Creek, and bomb-ravaged Hiroshima. (Subject: Henry Ryusuke Shibata)
Selected by:
DOC NYC X Voices of Canada Cohort Industry Roundtables, 2022
Supported by:
DOC Institute Breakthrough Development Lab, 2022
Hot Docs Canadian International Festival X Netflix Doc Accelerator Emerging Filmmaker Lab, 2020
National Association of Japanese Canadians Endowment Fund – Cultural Development Grant, 2019
Toronto Arts Foundation RBC Newcomer Artist Mentorship Award, 2018
Introduced at:
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Monthly E-bulletin KOKUBAN Volume 2, Issue 5, 2021
NOTES 1 and NOTES 2 written by producer Eiko Kawabe Brown (written in Japanese language)
