• Rabbit in the Moon

  • lay claim to an island

Rabbit in the Moon

In Person

  • Chizuko Omori is a producer and subject of Rabbit in the Moon.

There are two stories about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The first, the official story, tells of compliant citizens, rising above hardship to prove their unswerving loyalty to the country. The second story, one only whispered, tells of internees responding as disillusioned and angry individuals. Omori’s grippingly poetic documentary breaks with the authorized history, bringing to first light the courageous acts of protest and even rebellion that marked the internment. Meticulous research and charged testimony from former internees, including Omori’s sister, describe the camps at Heart Mountain, Manzanar, Poston, and Tule Lake, as well as the political rifts created in the incarcerated community, most visibly the conflicts between the generations of nisei and issei. Beautifully rendered, Rabbit in the Moon bravely lifts the gag that once muted a culture’s voice of anger.

Steve Seid
FILM DETAILS 
Screenwriter
  • Emiko Omori
Cinematographer
  • Emiko Omori
  • Witt Monts
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 85 mins
Source
  • Emiko Omori
Preceded By

lay claim to an island

Chris Kennedy, United States, 2009

Drawing on archival materials, Kennedy commemorates the 1969 American Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island.

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • Digital
  • 13 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Chris Kennedy
Followed By

Murder in the High Desert

Emiko Omori, United States, 2022

Murder in the High Desert tells the story of the murder of James Wakasa, who was shot and killed by a guard at the Topaz Concentration Camp in 1943, and the recent discovery of a monument made in his honor and buried in the camp. 

FILM DETAILS 
Cinematographer
  • Emiko Omori
Print Info
  • Color
  • DCP
  • 15 mins
source
  • Emiko Omori