Harusame Spring Rain (film)

Narrative short film by Jose De Vega set during World War II centering on Naomi, a young Nisei dancer, whose bitterness about her wartime exclusion and incarceration saps her love of dance. In an unnamed American concentration camp, she encounters a child who dreams of becoming a professional dancer and who asks Naomi to teach her.

Produced by the Asian American media arts organization Visual Communications, Harusame Spring Rain was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Expansion Arts Program.

A pioneering Asian American (of Filipino and Columbian descent) dancer and choreographer, De Vega (1934–90) starred as Chino in both the Broadway and Hollywood versions of West Side Story appeared in numerous television shows and movies in the 1960s and 1970s. After reuniting with the other prominent Asian American West Side Story cast member, Nobuko Miyamoto , at a cast reunion, De Vega became a key figure in the Asian American performing arts organization that she founded, Great Leap.

Might also like Eagle Against the Sun (1992); Hito Hata: Raise the Banner (1980); Strawberry Fields (1997)