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| Showtimes | Tue
March 16 7:00 PM / KAB316C Wed March 17 7:30 PM / PFA317A |
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USA, 1998, 87 mins, video,
color, English
Producer/Director/Writer/Videographer/Editor Emiko OMORI (in person); Editor/Writer Pat JACKSON; Videographer/Sound Recordist Will MONTS
Visually stunning and emotionally compelling, RABBIT IN THE MOON challenges the common notion that Japanese Americans willingly uprooted their families to live in racially segregated concentration camps during World War II. After decades of silence, former internees speak openly about their acts of protest and reflect on the psychological toll the camps took on themselves and their community.
Direct from its world premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival, this exceptional documentary unmasks the traditional image of Japanese Americans as model citizens who quietly complied with government orders, portraying them instead as active inmates who questioned the system. Unlike other internment documentaries, this film addresses sensitive issues seldom discussed within the Japanese American community: the conflict between the Issei (first) and Nisei (second) generations, the government’s encouragement of informers, and the true story behind the revolt at the Manzanar Relocation Center, where two young Japanese American men were shot to death by the U.S. Army.
Emiko Omori (HOT SUMMER WINDS, SFIAAFF 1991) is an acclaimed Bay Area cinematographer. A child during the internment, Omori allows the internees to tell their stories over a backdrop of artful images. Part documentary, part memoir, part essay, RABBIT IN THE MOON provides a rare window on the camp experience.
—Sandra Yoshizuka
Presented with San Francisco State University Department of Cinema, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, National Japanese American Historical Society, and KQED