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Going back to school at Woodside High School means it’s time to go to the movies to complete a summer homework assignment. And the community is invited to attend the screenings of the independent film, “Kintsukuroi,” from Tuesday, Sept. 18, to Saturday, Sept. 21, to share in the learning experience.
Over the summer everyone at the school was tasked with choosing at least one book in the Big Read program, to learn about Japanese Americans’ courage and resiliency after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
In 1942, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were rounded up in the West and sent off to internment camps. Many of their sons went on to fight in Europe with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and became known as one of the most decorated in U.S. military history.
The books, Facing the Mountain by Daniel J. Brown, Four-Four-Two by Dean Hughes, and Fighting for America: Nisei Soldiers by Lawrence Matsuda and Matt Sasaki, cover this time period when so many families were uprooted from their homes and lost everything, and yet literally soldiered on.
In addition, readers were encouraged to enrich their studies by going to places such as the Japanese American Museum of San Jose.
A reconstructed camp barrack at the museum plays a part in the movie, “Kintsukuroi,” which writer/director Kerwin Berk describes as “an historical drama based upon actual events but is a fictional presentation.”
The film depicts a Japanese American family rousted out of San Francisco’s Japantown.
The leading actress is Kaelani Kitaura, who graduated from Woodside High in 2008 and relates to the storyline given that all four of her grandparents were interned in camps during World War II.
She will be on hand for the question-and-answer sessions with cast and crew after the film showings on Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. and Sept. 21 at 1 p.m. in the Performing Arts Center at 199 Churchill Avenue, Woodside. There will also be showings on Sept. 18 and 20 at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $5 for students, $15 for staff and senior citizens, and $20 for general
admission. To buy tickets go to: tinyurl.com/WoodsideHighScreenings.
