Tadashi Nakamura (filmmaker)

Tadashi "Tad" Nakamura (born c. 1980) is an American documentary filmmaker. He is noted for films about the Asian-American and Japanese-American communities in the United States.

His 2013 film, Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, received a 2013 Gotham Award.

Education

Nakamura graduated with a bachelor's degree in Asian-American studies from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2003.[1] He received his MFA in Social Documentation from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)[2] in 2008.

Career

Nakamura's films focus on the Japanese American experience. Three of his films, Yellow Brotherhood, Pilgrimage, and A Song for Ourselves, form a documentary trilogy about Asian Americans and the importance of community. His films are frequently shown at film festivals, where they have won numerous awards.[3]

His 2013 film, Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings, is a full-length documentary about Jake Shimabukuro, a Japanese American ukulele virtuoso and composer from Hawaii. The film won the 2013 Gotham Audience Award for Independent Films.[4]

Personal life

Nakamura is a fourth generation Japanese American, born and raised in Los Angeles. His father, Robert A. Nakamura, is also a filmmaker and is sometimes referred to as "the Godfather of Asian American media".[5][6] His mother is the author and filmmaker Karen L. Ishizuka.[1]

Filmography
  • Yellow Brotherhood (2003)[7]
  • Pilgrimage (2007)[4]
  • A Song for Ourselves (2009)[4]
  • Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings (2012)[4]
  • Mele Murals (2016)[8]
  • Atomic Café: The Noisiest Corner in J-Town (2020)[9]

References
  1. "Tadashi Nakamura '03". University of California - Los Angeles. May 22, 2015.
  2. McNulty, Jennifer (January 13, 2008). "Graduate student's film featured at Sundance Film Festival". University of California - Santa Cruz.
  3. "Tadashi Nakamura Awards". Internet Movie Database.
  4. "Japanese American Filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura Wins Gotham Independent Film Award". Pacific Citizen. January 17, 2014.
  5. "JANM Announces Honorees and Theme for 2016 Annual Gala Dinner". Japanese American National Museum. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  6. "Tribute Reel to Robert Nakamura: Godfather of Asian American Media". Center for Asian American Media. 24 May 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
  7. Yellow Brotherhood: A Film (DVD). Los Angeles, Calif.: Center for EthnoCommunications of the UCLA Asian American Studies Center. 2003. OCLC 66916886.
  8. Wang, Frances Kai-Hwa (May 25, 2016). "'Mele Murals' Explores Native Hawaiian Identity through Urban Street Art". NBC News. Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  9. "Q&A with Makers of 'Atomic Café' Documentary". Rafu Shimpo. 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2021-02-19.

Further reading
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.