J-Sei At the Movies with Special Guests Sharon Yamato and Clement Hanami

Friday, November 19, 6:30 pm via Zoom

Technology brings together past and present from near and far as we welcome special guests Sharon Yamato and Clement Hanami joining us from Southern California to discuss their modern, innovative depictions of the Japanese American experience. In particular, we’ll learn about A Life in Pieces, currently on exhibit in three video modalities at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, and Sharon’s 2012 documentary, A Flicker in Eternity. Both vividly relate the tragically short life of a young Nisei named Stanley Hayami who at age 16 was incarcerated in Heart Mountain with his family, and who three years later was killed in Italy while serving as a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. We will share special video presentations, including two of Sharon’s short films, that you will not want to miss. Please join us.

RSVP with “Nov Movie Night” in the subject line.
You’ll receive Zoom information prior to the event.

About Our Guests

SHARON YAMATO is a writer and filmmaker who produced and directed the documentary films Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn; A Flicker in Eternity; and Moving Walls, the latter based on her book Moving Walls: Preserving the Barracks of America’s Concentration Camps. With Nonny de la Peña she created A Life in Pieces and has also served as a consultant for the Japanese American National Museum. She has written articles for the Los Angeles Times and is currently a columnist for the Rafu Shimpo. She graduated cum laude from UCLA with bachelors and masters degrees in English.

CLEMENT HANAMI is Vice President of Exhibitions and Art Director at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and has been with the Museum since it opened in 1992. He is primarily responsible for the design, installation, fabrication, and maintenance of the Museum’s major exhibits. Clement received his MFA from UCLA in Studio Art with a specialization in New Genres and has exhibited his work in California, New York, and Washington D.C. He was recently selected as one of Art Matters Foundation 2021 Artist2Artist Fellows.

Support J-Sei At the Movies

Thanks to you, J-Sei At the Movies will soon be celebrating its fourth anniversary! We look forward to more creative programming with inspiring Japanese and Japanese American films. We are especially grateful for the up close and personal chats with filmmakers as we learn so much from the exchange.

We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for your good energy and support!

J-Sei At the Movies: Meet Filmmaker Cellin Gluck

Friday, October 15, 2021 – 6:30 pm on Zoom

J-Sei’s filmmaker series continues online with a special guest appearance by writer-producer-director Cellin Gluck, who will discuss his decades-long career in film production. Growing up in Japan and currently based in Los Angeles, Cellin has worked as assistant director on several blockbuster films and as director of such feature-length films as Saidoweizu/Sideways (2009), the Japanese adaptation of the American original set in California wine country, and Persona Non Grata (2015), the real-life story of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who at the start of World War II defied his government and issued transit visas to save 6,000 Jewish refugees in Lithuania. Please join us for what will surely be a fascinating conversation and evening.

RSVP with “Oct Movie Night” in the subject line. You’ll receive Zoom information prior to the event.

About the Filmmaker

CELLIN GLUCK was born in Wakayama prefecture to American parents Jay and Sumi Gluck. He spent his “formative years” in Japan, except for three years in Iran, where his archaeologist father and textile historian mother’s work took the family.

After graduating high school from the Canadian Academy in Kobe, Cellin moved to the US and attended the Claremont Colleges, graduating from Pitzer College with honors from the Pomona College Theatre Department.

Growing up in Japan with a Jewish New Yorker father and a Japanese American mother from California (via wartime “relocation” in Rohwer, AR), Cellin has used his bicultural heritage to its fullest, spending the majority of his career to date in film production with a particular emphasis on Japan.

While he has specialized in producing/directing U.S.–Japan co-productions for most of his career, Cellin has also worked as an assistant director on Hollywood productions, such as Transformers (2007), Remember the Titans (2000), and Contact (1997), and as production manager on films like Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) and Godzilla (2014). He also directed the U.S. portion for Lorelei (2005) and the non-Japanese segments for the 20th Century Boys trilogy (2008-2009). In 2009, he made his debut as a film director with Saidoweizu/Sideways (2009), then co-wrote and co-directed Oba: The Last Samurai (2011). Persona Non Grata (2015) is his most recent feature film.

Recently Cellin has turned his eye toward directing for television. In 2018 he was selected as a director fellow for the CBS Directing Initiative, completing the program the following year; and again in 2019 as a director finalist in the NBC Emerging Director Program. He served as a co-chair of the Asian American Committee at the Directors Guild of America through 2020, of which he has been a member since 1992.

Support J-Sei At the Movies

Thanks to you, J-Sei At the Movies recently celebrated its third anniversary! We look forward to more creative programming with educational and inspiring Japanese and Japanese American films. We are especially grateful for the up close and personal chats with filmmakers as we learn so much from the exchange.

We love having a growing and enthusiastic audience. You are the best! We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for considering this.

J-Sei At the Movies: An Evening with Filmmaker Matthew Hashiguchi

Friday, September 24, 6:30 pm via Zoom

Please join us for what is sure to be a fascinating talk with documentary filmmaker and photographer Matthew Hashiguchi about his past work and current projects. Although presently based in Georgia, where he is a university professor in communication arts, Matt grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, which was the subject of his first feature-length documentary, GOOD LUCK SOUP (2016). It tells the very personal story about his family’s experience as Japanese Americans before, during, and after World War II and about growing up mixed race in white suburbia. His paternal grandmother, Eva — who grew up near Sacramento but eventually resettled in the Cleveland area following her family’s incarceration in the Arkansas camps during World War II — proves to be the star of the film and most spirited member of his family.

We’re very fortunate that Matt has kindly provided easy access to watch GOOD LUCK SOUP online prior to our meeting on September 24. We’ll send you a link when you RSVP.

RSVP with “Sept Movie Night” in the subject line.
You’ll receive Zoom information prior to the event.

About the Filmmaker

Matthew Hashiguchi is a documentary filmmaker whose work investigates the diverse experiences, identities, and cultures of American society. His first feature-length documentary GOOD LUCK SOUP was broadcast nationally on PBS World’s America ReFramed, won the Best Local Documentary Award at the Chagrin Documentary Film Festival, and received a 2016 Documentary Fund Award from the Center for Asian American Media and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. His other documentary work, which has addressed topics such as undocumented immigration, preserving community in post-Katrina New Orleans, and unexpected experiences in the Japanese American Internment Camps, has screened at many other festivals. His current project, AMERICAN DREAMING, is about undocumented immigrants trying to get college degrees in the state of Georgia. He is also associate professor of multimedia film and production at Georgia Southern University.

Support J-Sei At the Movies

Thanks to you, J-Sei At the Movies recently celebrated its third anniversary! We look forward to more creative programming with educational and inspiring Japanese and Japanese American films. We are especially grateful for the up close and personal chats with filmmakers as we learn so much from the exchange.

We love having a growing and enthusiastic audience. You are the best! We welcome any donations to help us offset costs for Movie Night. Thanks for considering this.

Virtual Family Festival – WATCH NOW!

EL CHINO GRANDE

Christopher Yang and Marcelle Gonzales Yang offer a casual pop-up influenced by the street food of Taiwan and travels to  Asia and Hawaii.

Taiwanese Beef Noodles  $18

Red Braised Beef, Egg Noodles, Sichuan Chili XO, marinated Gailan