General Public
New York Premiere

NAMBA: A Japanese American's Incarceration and Life of Resilience

Social Justice Projects
Directed by: Emily Hanako Momohara
Duration: 45 minutes
English
Watch Trailer
Watch Trailer
Add to Favorites
Add to Favorites
Share
Share
Viewing Options
Viewing Options
NAMBA: A Japanese American's Incarceration and Life of Resilience
Click to Unmute
NAMBA: A Japanese American's Incarceration and Life of Resilience
An award-winning coming-of-age journey in the midst of war and bravery, Namba introduces us to May Namba, a Japanese American woman incarnated during WWII. It’s a portion of American history not often told.

We learn the story of May Namba, narrated by her granddaughter Miyako Namba. Beginning with the summer of 1941, she chronicles the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt’s executive order that sent Japanese Americans to prison camps, and the impact it had on those Americans.

May was incarcerated in Minidoka, one of 10 such prisons. Miyako narrates as May lost her job and her father was taken away. Yet throughout the journey, we witness May’s incredible resilience and how it forges a life of service.

May goes on to become an community organizer, working collaboratively to create community events and spaces for healing and justice. She mentors many local youths who go on to become the leaders they are today.

In the film, May, Miyako and other members of the Namba family travel to the Minidoka site. Miyako struggles to walk May’s journey. She imagines what she would bring with her in the limited luggage allowed, makes a mattress of hay in a horse stall for a bed, and visits many of the locations that shaped May’s life.

May Namba’s patriotism, resilience, perseverance, and leadership is an inspiration for us all.
Genres: Documentary and Reality
Perspectives: Asian-American, Women
Studio: n/a
Producers: Emily Hanako Momohara
From: United States
Produced In: United States
Writers: Emily Hanako Momohara
Lead Actors: May NambaMiyako Namba
Supporting Actors: Bill TashimaBif BrigmanNeil KingAaren PurcellAnna Hostica TamuraDr. Tetsuden KashimaJim NambaHanako Wakatsuki ChongRhee LightnerSam HerbersAndrea PhantuSpencer Whitehead
Key Crew: Mika YatsuhashiSimon Tam + Joe X JiangJim Bailey

If you don’t have an Apple ID or Google account, click either button and follow the prompts to create a new account.

Enter the code below into your set top device to associate it with your account.

Imagine This International Women's Film Festival
Overview
Technology
Essential Functions
Non-essential Functions

We respect your privacy

We use various technologies to track your identity and your interaction with our content while you are on our site. Our goal is to limit the use of this kind of technology to functions that are strictly necessary for the purpose of being a festival attendee, filmmaker, judge, or presenter. You have full control over the few exceptions that are not strictly necessary.

Cookies and Local Storage

We do not use any first-party cookies on this site, though we do use a newer technology called "local storage" to store information about your identity and interaction with our site on your computer. We may use a third-party cookie for analytics tracking and another for your purchases. We do not use third-party cookies for the purposes of advertising or collecting information for use by third-parties.

Use of Essential Cookies/Storage

The primary need for our storage of data on your computer is to track your authentication status and synchronize the purchases stored on the web site, thus enabling you to access the content to which you have access. When you are not authenticated, we also use this technology to track viewing of content in verification of our right to show you that content. On your profile page, you can see the information we store about you and manage it. You do have the right to be forgotten by us, but you will lose access to any purchased content should you exercise this right.

Non-essential Cookies/Storage Preferences

There are two non-essential functions: our use of Google Analytics to help us analyize usage of our web site and our automated watch list tracking. You may turn off one or both non-essential functions. We do ask that you allow these functions as they are used solely for the purposes of bettering this web site and are not used for advertising or sold tracking your beavhior for use by third-parties.

Tracking
Watch List

Click "Accept" to accept this use of cookies or "Reject" reject all but essential cookies.