"A dominant narrative of the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans is that they behaved as a 'model minority,' cooperating without protest and proving their patriotism by enlisting in the army. Konrad Aderer’s documentary overturns this history, telling the story of the 12,000 Japanese Americans labeled “disloyal” who dared to resist the U.S. government’s program of mass incarceration at Tule Lake Segregation Center... Resistance at Tule Lake brings to surface stories of dissent and noncooperation marginalized for 70 years—ever more vital today amidst new threats to the rights of immigrants and minorities."
Resistance at Tule Lake at JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film
Japan Society
333 E 47th St, New York, NY 10017
Wednesday, July 19, 2017 at 6:30PM
*Introduction and Q&A with Director Konrad Aderer!
Tickets $14 / $11 Seniors & Students / $10 Japan Society Members
From Hiroshima to Tule Lake, Films About Japan and America
By Mike Hale, New York Times
July 12, 2016
"Interviewing survivors, and traveling on a pilgrimage to the desolate remains of the Tule Lake relocation camp in far Northern California, Mr. Aderer shows that the narrative of stoic obedience in the face of repression and imprisonment is radically incomplete... Toggling among fascinating, often sorrowful film and photographs from the period, and the still vivid anger of the now elderly former prisoners, 'Resistance at Tule Lake' is a potent piece of history at a time when the United States is once again feeling less than hospitable."[…]
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Resistance at Tule Lake: Film Looks at WW2 Internment
Tom Brook interviews Konrad Aderer, BBCJuly 13, 2017
More than 120,000 Japanese-Americans were held at internment camps in the US during the 1940s because they were viewed as a security threat. New documentary, Resistance at Tule Lake, looks at some of the internees’ resistance to incarceration at one California detention camp. BBC Talking Moves’ Tom Brook reports.[…]
Watch BBC interview:
Film Review: Konrad Aderer’s “Resistance at Tule Lake”
By Rex Baylon, Meniscus
June 7, 2017"For many viewers, 'Resistance at Tule Lake' will not be an easy watch... The newsreels showcase the complete obliviousness of the American public’s perspective on Japanese [incarceration]. The interviews from surviving Japanese internees are maddeningly depressing as they nonchalantly tell of their experiences in the camps. They fight back tears as they tell their story, yet they end each harrowing tale of deprivation and humiliation with the same sentiment: that they stilllove this country and are proud to be Americans."[…]
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#SDAFF Spring Showcase: RESISTANCE AT TULE LAKE Demonstrated How the Struggle Is REAL
By Erin Chew, YOMYOMF Network
May 10, 2017
"This particular film directed by Japanese American filmmaker Konrad Aderer provides a deep insight into the resistance movement of the Japanese Americans incarcerated at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, and quashes the idea that Asians are obedient, non-confrontational, don’t voice their dissent and are happy to be apart of the model minority myth."[…]
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Interview with Konrad Aderer: Telling a dramatic story through real-life experiences is a very powerful way to engage people in an issue
By Panos Kotzathanasis, Asian Film Vault
April 26, 2017
"When I was making my first film 'Enemy Alien' about a Palestinian activist Farouk, I was looking for a parallel in Japanese-American history. I found it in Tule Lake. Pretty much everything that he did: conduct hunger strikes, reason with his captors, fight illegal cases on base of constitutional principles—that’s all the things that Japanese Americans did at Tule Lake. And they had the same kind of consequences—beating, torture, deportation, yet they still persisted, which is why I felt this story was invaluable to tell because it was so little-known."[…]
Read the full interview:
“Resistance at Tule Lake” at San Diego Asian Film Festival 2017
By Sam Velazquez, UCSD Guardian
April 23, 2016
“'Resistance at Tule Lake' reifies both the strength of people and the inexcusable, illegal actions of a government that has made a tradition of subjugating its citizens. The proud Americans dragged to this camp fought for their constitutional rights and were rebuked for it... As a nation of immigrants and contradictions, we must establish the fight for equality and justice as an active goal — not a pipe dream." […]
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Konrad Aderer Interview
By Andrea Chase, PRX
March 11, 2017
An interviewee in Konrad Aderer’s Resistance at Tule Lakecompares that militarized internment camp to Guantanamo. It’s a connection that I had not made before, but which is just one of the many enlightening moments in the documentary. When I spoke with Aderer on March 11, 2017, it was just before Resistance’s world premiere at CAAMFest, and my first question was about that comparison.[…]
Listen to the interview:
Konrad and team are grateful to announce that Resistance at Tule Lake was awarded the Jason D. Mak Award for Social Justice by the DisOrient Asian American Film Festival of Oregon!
