Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Hawai'i Island (film)

Short film that tells the story of Japanese Americans on Big Island of Hawai'i who were interned during World War II using a combination of contemporary interviews, historical photographs and footage, and historical reenactments. It is one of a series of four films produced by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i about the internment experience in each of the four counties of Hawai'i as a follow up to the 2012 film The Untold Story: Internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai'i .

Writer and director Ryan Kawamoto features the stories of Issei internees Joichi Tahara of Pa'auilo, Kamekichi Kirita of Hala'ula, Kanesaburo Oshima of Kealakekua, and George Hoshida of Hilo and includes interviews with the children of each man. Three them were interned at Kīlauea Military Camp (KMC) before being transferred to camps on the continental U.S., while Tahara was held at Sand Island and Honouliuli . Oshima was shot to death by guards will interned at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma . The film goes on to trace each family's postwar trajectory and the current status of the Big Island confinement sites, particularly KMC.

Might also like Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of O'ahu' (2018); The First Battle: The Battle for Equality in War-Time Hawaii (2006); Ganbare Don't Give Up! (1994)