GARDENA —?In celebration of AAPI Heritage Month, the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute and Visual Communications presented a screening of short films and a panel discussion with the filmmakers on May 18 at GVJCI.

Weldon Wong Powers of VC’s Digital Histories program served as moderator. The filmmakers were:

Don Bannai (“They Served”), who gets to combine a lifelong curiosity about people and their stories with a new way to move our communities forward by creating short documentaries. After 30 years of wandering the desert, living in Las Vegas, he has ended up back in Gardena. In the future he hopes to be involved in projects that recognize the contributions of those who built the foundations of our communities.

Patty Fong (“More Than a Roast Chicken”) is a Southern California native. Retirement from a career in finance has allowed her to pursue interests that include travel and cooking. She also enjoys researching family histories and finding out how our stories fit into the larger American experience. “More Than a Roast Chicken” is her fourth film with Digital Histories.

Stony Furutani (“The Tale of Uncle Frank and Stories for Another Day”) was born and raised in Gardena and is a longtime resident of the South Bay. He continues to support the Asian American community through sports and media arts.

Barbara Kagawa Shore (“Missing Pieces”) received a degree in broadcasting/TV and film from Cal State Los Angeles. She worked a few years in the industry, then left to raise a family. Over four decades later, she picks up the camera again, as a proud senior, to capture stories that need to be told.

Teresa Takaki Matsushima (“Mochi Sticks Us Together”), born in the Windy City, traded snow boots for slippahsand grew up as a Gardena girl. A diehard Bruin, she married her main squeeze, Bob, has two grown kids, and loves snuggling her grandkids, talking story over steamy matcha, and arranging flowers. A retired nurse practitioner, she has served with medical missions on three continents. “Mochi Sticks Us Together,” her third film, chronicles her family’s mochitsuki.

Robert Shoji (“See You in My Dreams”) holds a lifelong interest in music and the creative arts. After parlaying his engineering degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo into a successful career in consumer electronics, he is now focusing his creative talents to tell his own story in film and music.

George Wada (“When I’m 64”) is a semi-retired aerospace engineer expressing his suppressed creativity through his films. He has been fortunate to participate in many films as a cameraman and produce films through Digital Histories, and has an affinity for conducting interviews. His family is supportive as long as he doesn’t include them in his films.

Digital Histories is a mechanism for APA older adults to use their unique voices and perspectives in sharing stories with the generations to come. Since its creation in 2003, Digital Histories has provided a professional and artistic work environment for under-served, ethnic-minority seniors in the Los Angeles-based Asian Pacific American community. Past documentary projects have focused on issues such as discovering and preserving family histories, coming to terms with a gay child, and senior love and dating.

Info: https://vcmedia.org/digital-histories

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