Citizen Tanouye (film)

A 2005 documentary film that tells the story of eight high school students from Torrance High School in California, and their discovery of a school alumnus named Ted Tanouye and his experiences during World War II. A Japanese American soldier of the renowned 442nd Regimental Combat Team who was killed in action and a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient , Technical Sergeant Tanouye and his family were nonetheless incarcerated at the Jerome and Rohwer , Arkansas, concentration camps from 1942–45, without due process. By researching Tanouye's personal history through school yearbooks, newspapers, internet sites and by conducting interviews with Japanese American veterans, the relevance of history and importance of civil liberties becomes tangible for the students, who come to see the parallels between the Japanese American experience during World War II and their own lives and the impact war had on their city.

Citizen Tanouye received the 2005 "Chris Award" (High School & College Category), the 2006 "Accolade"-Award of Excellence-Documentary and the 2007 "Telly"-Silver Statuette award. Produced and directed by Robert Horsting and Craig Yahata, the film's cast comes from Torrance High School's class of 2005: Nicole Adachi, Alex Begovich, Kathy Choi, Tim Froehlig, Talayeh Haghighi, Billy Kim, Heather McIlvaine, and Katie Webb.

Might also like Most Honorable Son (2007); A Flicker in Eternity (2012); Mission in Manila: The Sakakida Story (1994)