TADAIMA
A Japanese American family returns home and must find the strength to rebuild both their house and their family amidst the emotional and physical destruction caused by World War II.
Starring Toshi Toda, Vivian Umino, Mackenyu Maeda, and Jordyn Kanaya.
15min 28sec / USA / 2015
Winner Best Short Film at Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival; DisOrient Asian American Film Festival; Forum of Law, Culture and Society Film Festival at NYU Law School; and the Social Justice Film Festival.
Acquired by Xfinity-Comcast; Seed & Spark; Full Spectrum Pictures and Center for Asian American Media.
A LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR
My great-grandfather came to the United States in the 1920s. With the hope for a new life, he bought a home and a farm. By the 1930s he owned a grocery store and had started a family in Northern California. Following the attacks on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt executed Executive Order 9066, evacuating every Japanese American from the West Coast and interning them in one of twelve relocation centers scattered across the American deserts. My great-grandfather lost his farm, his store and his home. He and his family were imprisoned at the Manzanar Concentration Center in Owens Valley, California. My grandfather, Paul Takagi, was a teenager when he entered camp.
American schools do not cover the camps as part of an average curriculum, thus clouding a major chapter of American history. In school, my peers and I watched GLORY, ROOTS, HOTEL RWANDA, SCHINDLER’S LIST, and GHANDI as contextual examples to the moments in history that we were studying. The exams did not center on the films, but for the class it was an effective method of opening up discussions and informing a large body of people to these events.
I want to make this story because I feel as though many of the stories of minority Americans were not being represented on the screen or in our conversations. The surviving Nisei, the generation of Japanese Americans born in this country, are in their seventies and eighties, meaning the last of this generation of people is passing on. This film is meant to serve as a symbol of respect and acknowledgement to those people who came before us.
TADAIMA is a story about starting over. It’s about taking that “sickly pit” in the bottom of one's stomach and turning it over. The story conveys feelings of loss, displacement, racism, emasculation, confusion and frustration; above all, however, the strongest emotion that I am aiming to capture within this film is hope. Hopefully this film can be a step in the right direction of bringing a shed of clarity to what is otherwise a very dark period of American history. I want to make a short film that plays like a single scene out of a much larger picture. “Tadaima” translates to “At last, I am home.”
-Robin Takao D’Oench
WINNER - BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FILM - DISORIENT ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL OF OREGON 2015
WINNER - BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FILM - PHILADELPHIA ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2015
WINNER - BEST NARRATIVE SHORT FILM - SOCIAL JUSTICE FILM FESTIVAL 2016
WINNER - BEST SHORT FILM - FORUM ON LAW, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY FILM FESTIVAL at NYU LAW SCHOOL 2015
WINNER - BEST DRAMA - NEW YORK CITY DOWNTOWN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2015
WINNER - BEST SCREENPLAY - FORUM ON LAW, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY FILM FESTIVAL at NYU LAW SCHOOL 2015
WINNER - BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: MACKENYU MAEDA - ASIANS ON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
WINNER - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: MINGJUE HU - ASIANS ON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
WINNER - BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: MINGJUE HU - INDIEWORKS BEST OF FEST 2015
WINNER - BEST ENSEMBLE - ASIANS ON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
WINNER - LEDO MATTEOLI AWARD - HUMBOLDT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
WINNER - SILVER WHISKERS AWARD - INDIEWORKS (JUNE) 2015
HONORABLE MENTION - BEST DRAMA - ASIANS ON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
HONORABLE MENTION - BEST DIRECTOR - ASIANS ON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - ASIANS ON FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - CAAMFEST 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - CINEMAFEST FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - CINÉMONDE NYC FILM SERIES 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - DC ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - DISORIENT ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL OF OREGON 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - HOLLYSHORTS FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - HUMBOLDT INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - INDIEWORKS BEST OF FEST 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - ISCHIA FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - ITHACA PAN ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - LOS ANGELES ASIAN PACIFIC FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - MOVIATE UNDERGROUND AT ARTS FEST FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - NEWFILMMAKERS LOS ANGELES 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - NEWFILMMAKERS NEW YORK 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - NEW YORK CITY DOWNTOWN SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - NEW YORK EURASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2016
OFFICIAL SELECTION - NEW YORK JAPAN CINEFEST 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - FILM CRASH FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - FORUM ON LAW, CULTURE, AND SOCIETY FILM FESTIVAL at NYU LAW SCHOOL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - PHILADELPHIA ASIAN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - RED ROCK FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - RENO TAHOE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SAN DIEGO ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SAN JOSE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SOCIAL JUSTICE FILM FESTIVAL 2016
OFFICIAL SELECTION - SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - TORONTO REEL ASIAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
OFFICIAL SELECTION - USA INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL 2016
OFFICIAL SELECTION - WOODS HOLE FILM FESTIVAL 2015
SPECIAL INVITATION - ASIAN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2016
SPECIAL INVITATION - ASIAN HERITAGE STREET CELEBRATION 2015
SPECIAL INVITATION - THE BOONIES INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
SPECIAL INVITATION - FRIDAY NIGHT SCREENINGS @BAHCHE 2015
SPECIAL INVITATION - JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL IN BOSTON 2015
SPECIAL INVITATION - THE NEW DIRECTORS FILM FESTIVAL 2015
