{"id":"Kintsukuroi (film)","doctype":"articles","links":{"html":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Kintsukuroi%20(film)/","json":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/articles/Kintsukuroi%20(film)/"},"title_sort":"kintsukuroifilm","description":"Feature-length family saga centering on a Japanese American family's wartime incarceration odyssey.","rg_rgmediatype":["films"],"mediatype_label":"Films and Video","mediatype_icon":"fa-film","rg_interestlevel":["Grades 9-12","Adult"],"rg_genre":["Drama","History"],"rg_theme":["Family – blessing or curse","Power of the past","Wisdom of experience"],"rg_availability":["Available"],"categories":[{"title":"Arts"}],"topics":[],"authors":[{"title":"Brian Niiya","json":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/authors/Brian%20Niiya/","html":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/authors/Brian%20Niiya/"}],"sources":[],"title":"Kintsukuroi (film)","published_rg":true,"modified":"2025-03-10T23:42:39","databoxes":{"rgdatabox-Core":{"rgmediatype":["films"],"title":["Kintsukuroi"],"creators":[],"interestlevel":["Grades 9-12","Adult"],"readinglevel":[],"guidedreadinglevel":[],"lexile":[],"theme":["Family – blessing or curse","Power of the past","Wisdom of experience"],"genre":["Drama","History"],"pov":["Told from perspective of Nisei woman looking back at her life"],"relatedevents":[],"availability":["Available"],"freewebversion":["No"],"primarysecondary":[],"hasteachingaids":["No"],"warnings":[],"denshotopic":[],"geography":["San Francisco"],"chronology":["1940s and 2010s"],"facility":["Topaz (Central Utah) [1] - Delta, Utah","Heart Mountain [5] - Cody, Wyoming"]},"databox-Films":{"title":["Kintsukuroi"],"date":["2024"],"genre":["Drama"],"released":[],"director":["Kerwin Berk"],"producer":["Ben Arikawa","Kerwin Berk","Jim Nagareda","Samantha Takizawa"],"writer":[],"screenplay":["Kerwin Berk"],"story":[],"basedon":[],"narrator":[],"starring":["Ryan Takemiya (Jimmy Ibata)","Kealani Kitaura (Wendy Ito)","Ken Takeda (Ken Ito)","Run Munekawa (Mr. Ito)","Kiyomi Koide (Mrs. Ito)","Chizu Omori (Obaachan)","Kealoha Nakamura (Kayo Tanaka)","Sarah Lee (Manami Koga)","Timothy Hsu (Shig Fujiwara)","David Kiyoshi Tom (Mr. Ibata)","George Lamen (Lieutenant)","Alexander P. Nguyen (Jerry Shimizu)","Keiko Carriero (Mrs. Koga)","Renny Madlena (Agent Keats)","Charles Anderson (Martinelli)","Shalee Uma Hamilton (Camp singer)","Vonn Scott Bair (Prison guard)","Jeffery Ogata (Mr. Hige)","Eileen Kurahashi (Old Wendy)","Jiro B. Yamamoto (Mr. Koga)","Giana Lucia (Waitress)","Max Nihei (Kazuo Aso)","Kyle Gorai-in (Thomas Yamanaga)","Dan Inouye (Hidetoshi Wakabayashi)","James Morizono (Toshi)","Herb Tanimoto (Mr. Nomura)","Victor William Chen (Sergeant)","Joe Schwan (Corporal)","Ed Rachles (Agent Goldberg)","Tom Shafer (Bus driver)","Ray Raygoza Jr. (Military policeman)","Anastasia Gordeeva (Dorothea Lange)","Ava Tom (The granddaughter)","Tohma Humfeld (The grandson)","Isabella Saya Falconi (Amy)","Michael Quebec (Foreman)","Kiyomi Takeda (Woman with baby)","Hiroshi Kashiwagi (Old Shig)"],"music":["Duane Takahashi"],"cinematography":["Ben Arikawa"],"editing":["Kei Miyazoe"],"studio":["Ikeibi Films"],"distributor":[],"runtime":["139/130 minutes"],"country":[],"language":[],"budget":[],"gross":[],"imdblink":["https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30476184/"],"trailerlink":[]}},"rg_title":["Kintsukuroi"],"rg_pov":["Told from perspective of Nisei woman looking back at her life"],"rg_freewebversion":["No"],"rg_geography":["San Francisco"],"rg_chronology":["1940s and 2010s"],"rg_hasteachingaids":["No"],"body":"
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\n Title:Kintsukuroi;\nDate:2024; \nGenre:Drama;\nReleased:;\nDirector:Kerwin Berk;\nProducer:Ben Arikawa; Kerwin Berk; Jim Nagareda; Samantha Takizawa;\nWriter:;\nScreenplay:Kerwin Berk;\nStory:;\nBasedOn:;\nNarrator:;\nStarring:Ryan Takemiya (Jimmy Ibata); Kealani Kitaura (Wendy Ito); Ken Takeda (Ken Ito); Run Munekawa (Mr. Ito); Kiyomi Koide (Mrs. Ito); Chizu Omori (Obaachan); Kealoha Nakamura (Kayo Tanaka); Sarah Lee (Manami Koga); Timothy Hsu (Shig Fujiwara); David Kiyoshi Tom (Mr. Ibata); George Lamen (Lieutenant); Alexander P. Nguyen (Jerry Shimizu); Keiko Carriero (Mrs. Koga); Renny Madlena (Agent Keats); Charles Anderson (Martinelli); Shalee Uma Hamilton (Camp singer); Vonn Scott Bair (Prison guard); Jeffery Ogata (Mr. Hige); Eileen Kurahashi (Old Wendy); Jiro B. Yamamoto (Mr. Koga); Giana Lucia (Waitress); Max Nihei (Kazuo Aso); Kyle Gorai-in (Thomas Yamanaga); Dan Inouye (Hidetoshi Wakabayashi); James Morizono (Toshi); Herb Tanimoto (Mr. Nomura); Victor William Chen (Sergeant); Joe Schwan (Corporal); Ed Rachles (Agent Goldberg); Tom Shafer (Bus driver); Ray Raygoza Jr. (Military policeman); Anastasia Gordeeva (Dorothea Lange); Ava Tom (The granddaughter); Tohma Humfeld (The grandson); Isabella Saya Falconi (Amy); Michael Quebec (Foreman); Kiyomi Takeda (Woman with baby); Hiroshi Kashiwagi (Old Shig);\nMusic:Duane Takahashi;\nCinematography:Ben Arikawa;\nEditing:Kei Miyazoe;\nStudio:Ikeibi Films;\nDistributor:;\nRuntime:139/130 minutes;\nCountry:;\nLanguage:;\nBudget:;\nGross:;\nIMDBLink:\n \n https://www.imdb.com/title/tt30476184/\n \n ;\nTrailerLink:;\n

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\n RGMediaType:films;\nTitle:Kintsukuroi;\nCreators:;\nInterestLevel:Grades 9-12; Adult;\nReadingLevel:;\nGuidedReadingLevel:;\nLexile:;\nTheme:Family – blessing or curse; Power of the past; Wisdom of experience;\nGenre:Drama; History;\nPoV:Told from perspective of Nisei woman looking back at her life;\nRelatedEvents:;\nAvailability:Available;\nFreeWebVersion:No;\nPrimarySecondary:;\nHasTeachingAids:No;\nWarnings:;\nDenshoTopic:;\nGeography:San Francisco;\nChronology:1940s and 2010s;\nFacility:Topaz (Central Utah) [1] - Delta, Utah; Heart Mountain [5] - Cody, Wyoming;\n

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\n Feature-length family saga centering on a Japanese American family's wartime incarceration odyssey.\n

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\n In an undated present, an elderly Nisei woman fixes a broken ceramic bowl, while her granddaughter reminds her that she is to tell her story (presumably in an oral history) the next morning at 9 am. As the woman narrates, the story begins. We learn she is Wendy Ito, one of two children of Issei parents in San Francisco before the war. The family runs a store and Wendy is going to college when the war begins. The story follows the Itos through their forced removal to\n \n Topaz\n \n , where her brother Ken volunteers to join the\n \n 442nd Regimental Combat Team\n \n and incorporates many aspects of the Japanese American World War II story from the\n \n loyalty questionnaire\n \n to the experience of Nisei soldiers in Europe, Nisei\n \n draft resistance\n \n and the difficulties of the immediate postwar period. There is also a parallel story about another family, the Ibatas, who end up at\n \n Heart Mountain\n \n . The older Wendy narrates throughout, eventually returning to the present.\n

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\n A former journalist, filmmaker Kerwin Berk began making films in the 2010s, including a prior feature film titled\n \n Infinity and Chashu Ramen\n \n (2013) and various shorts.\n \n Kintsukuroi\n \n began as a thirty minute short that was expanded to a feature after the pandemic. Berk received a grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission to begin the film, but completed it on a shoestring budget, with the cast and crew volunteering their time. The film's world premiere took place in San Francisco on April 28, 2024, and it screened at various Bay Area locations throughout 2024. The title refers to the Japanese art form of using gold and lacquer to repair broken ceramics, creating a more beautiful object in the process, a metaphor for what happened to the Japanese American community after the war.\n \n \n [1]\n \n \n

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\n \n Authored by\n \n Brian Niiya\n \n , Densho\n \n
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\n Niiya, Brian\n
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\n Might also like\n \n \n Farewell to Manzanar\n \n \n (1976);\n \n \n Only the Brave\n \n \n (2006);\n \n \n Hito Hata: Raise the Banner\n \n \n (1980)\n

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  1. \n \n \n ↑\n \n \n \n Sharon Ito, \"Sansei Director of Kintsukuroi Humbled by the Response,\" Buddhist Church of Sacramento, Sept. 25, 2024,\n \n https://www.buddhistchurch.org/news/director-of-kintsukuroi-humbled-by-the-audience-reaction\n \n ; Tamiko Nimura, \"'Infinity and Chashu Ramen': An Interview with Filmmaker Kerwin Berk,\"\n \n Seattle Star\n \n , Aug. 19, 2014,\n \n https://www.seattlestar.net/2014/08/infinity-and-chashu-ramen-an-interview-with-filmmaker-kerwin-berk/\n \n ;\n \n Nichi Bei News\n \n , Apr 11–24, 2024, 12; Soji Kashiwagi, \"'Kintsukuroi,' feature film about JA experience, coming to Sacramento June 30,\"\n \n Nisei Bei News\n \n , June 20 to July 3, 2024, 26.\n \n
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