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2017 SDAFF Spring Showcase

Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017

There were resistors. 75 years after Executive Order 9066, which called upon the military to administer concentration camps for Japanese Americans, it is critical to remember that there were those who refused to show up for mass incarceration, there were those who spoke out against the conditions of their detention, there were those who demanded redress, and there were those who furiously said “never again.”

In 2017, “never again” is not just a slogan for future generations, but a warning for the current one. Today, it is insufficient to just note the uncanny parallels between the past and present. History must not only remind us of atrocity, but also remind us that there are precedents for defying hysteria, misdirection, and the belief that certain ethnic groups can and should have their legal rights stripped from them in the name of national defense.

In that spirit, we present “Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017,” a day of documentaries and short films that chronicle resistance, from Fred Korematsu’s acts of disobedience to contemporary outrage against post-9/11 internment and racism targeting Muslim Americans and those of South Asian and Middle Eastern descent. Collectively, these works take the Japanese American incarceration and the recent racially-tinged paranoia not as discrete eras, but as a continuum of hate, heartbreak, and distress that has mired our nation from its founding, but that has also inspired its victims to consider more purposefully and imaginatively the paths of resistance that are just as foundational to the nation’s ideals of liberty.


  1. AFGHAN

    Pardis Parker / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / Canada / 2008 / comedy / 12 mins
    After finding "Go home Arab" spray-painted on their car, two filmmakers decide to respond the only way they know: through comedy.

    Precedes: THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI

    Precedes:
    THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 7:25 pm


  2. THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI

    Linda Hattendorf / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2006 / documentary / 74 mins
    Artist Jimmy Mirikitani spent WWII in Tule Lake, an indeterminate number of years on the streets of New York City, and the post-9/11 months finding renewed purpose and opportunity. That’s when he befriended filmmaker Linda Hattendorf, who asked questions about Jimmy’s art, his family, and his relationship to a country that turned its back on him.

    Preceded by: AFGHAN, TADAIMA

    THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 7:25 pm


  3. ENEMY ALIEN

    Konrad Aderer / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2011 / documentary / 82 mins
    After 9/11, human rights activist Farouk Abdel-Muhti was one amongst thousands of Muslim immigrants imprisoned in detention centers by the US government. Unwilling to accept that he was a suspect because of his beliefs, Farouk organized a hunger strike and became a symbol of resistance against Homeland Security’s racialized dragnet targeting brown-skinned Americans.

    Preceded by: SPEAKING OUT!

    ENEMY ALIEN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 4:50 pm


  4. LETTERS FROM CAMP

    Frank Chin / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2016 / documentary / 3 mins
    Muslim American youth read letters written by Japanese Americans in the incarceration camps.

    Precedes: OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS: THE FRED KOREMATSU STORY

    Precedes:
    OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 1:00 pm


  5. OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS: THE FRED KOREMATSU STORY

    Eric Paul Fournier / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2000 / documentary / 60 mins
    In 1942, Fred Korematsu refused to show up to the camps. Over the next 40 years, he took his case to the highest courts in the land, seeking an acknowledgment from the government of what he and thousands of other Japanese Americans knew: that their constitutional rights were violated the moment they were rounded up.

    Preceded by: LETTERS FROM CAMP

    OF CIVIL WRONGS AND RIGHTS

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 1:00 pm


  6. RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE

    Konrad Aderer / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2017 / documentary / 79 mins
    Tule Lake is where the troublemakers were held. These were the incarcerees who spat at the government’s loyalty questionnaires, who sought a collective voice against injustice, and who questioned the flag that cast a torturous shadow over their families. This is the untold story of courage, controversy, and anger in a “jail within a jail.”
    RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 2:35 pm


  7. SPEAKING OUT!

    Steve Nagano / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2013 / documentary / 6 mins
    In this incredible footage from 1981 government hearings, Japanese American incarcerees refuse to be silenced.

    Precedes: ENEMY ALIEN

    Precedes:
    ENEMY ALIEN

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 4:50 pm


  8. TADAIMA

    Robin D'Oench / Right to Resist: From 9066 to 2017 / USA / 2015 / drama / 15 mins
    After the end of WWII, a Japanese American family struggles to restart their lives.

    Precedes: THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI

    Precedes:
    THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI

    UltraStar Mission Valley
    Sunday, April 23, 2017 7:25 pm