Documentary | DVD | Closed Captioning | Study Guide Available
Producer: Satsuki Ina
Director/Editor: Stephen Holsapple
Ethnicity: Japanese
Subjects: Identity, Japanese American/Canadian Internment, Personal Stories
Grade Levels: HIGH SCHOOL GRADES 11 & UP
This powerful documentary shares the experiences, cultural and familial issues, and the long internalized grief and shame felt by six Japanese Americans who were only children when they were incarcerated in concentration camps during World War II. Of the 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent who were interned, more than half were children. This video program is the result of a three-year project by Dr. Satsuki Ina, a university professor and family therapist, who has been conducting a series of three-day workshops for over ten years for former fellow internees. With the expertise of community-conscious filmmakers, she was able to film a workshop retreat in order to share the profound and proven healing experience with other Japanese Americans and the greater community at large. Unlike any other internment film, CHILDREN OF THE CAMPS examines how this early trauma manifests itself in their adult lives.
** Recommended for high school grades 11 and up; contains intense scenes from adult group therapy sessions with brief, explicit language that is censored.
Home video/personal use copies are also available. Please email us directly at distribution@caamedia.org for more information.