{"id":"Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story (film)","doctype":"articles","links":{"html":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/Through%20the%20Lens%20of%20Russell%20Lee:%20Mathias%20Uchiyama's%20Story%20(film)/","json":"https://resourceguide.densho.org/api/3.0/articles/Through%20the%20Lens%20of%20Russell%20Lee:%20Mathias%20Uchiyama's%20Story%20(film)/"},"title_sort":"throughthelensofrussellleemathiasuchiyamasstoryfilm","description":"Short documentary film about a Japanese American family that left the\n \n Portland Assembly Center\n \n to engage in farm labor in eastern Oregon, produced to accompany the traveling exhibition\n \n\n Uprooted: Japanese American Farm Labor Camps during World War II\n \n\n .","rg_rgmediatype":["films"],"mediatype_label":"Films and Video","mediatype_icon":"fa-film","rg_interestlevel":["Grades 7-8","Grades 9-12","Adult"],"rg_genre":["Documentary"],"rg_theme":["Power of the past","Working class struggles","Displacement"],"rg_availability":["Widely 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":"Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story (film)","published_rg":true,"modified":"2018-02-28T18:47:09","databoxes":{"rgdatabox-Core":{"rgmediatype":["films"],"title":["Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story"],"creators":[],"interestlevel":["Grades 7-8","Grades 9-12","Adult"],"readinglevel":[],"guidedreadinglevel":[],"lexile":[],"theme":["Power of the past","Working class struggles","Displacement"],"genre":["Documentary"],"pov":["Told from perspective of Nisei looking back at his boyhood"],"relatedevents":[],"availability":["Widely available"],"freewebversion":["Yes"],"primarysecondary":[],"hasteachingaids":["No"],"warnings":[],"denshotopic":[],"geography":["eastern Oregon"],"chronology":["1940s"],"facility":["Portland [12] - Portland, Oregon"]},"databox-Films":{"title":["Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story"],"date":["2015"],"genre":[],"released":[],"director":[],"producer":[],"writer":[],"screenplay":[],"story":[],"basedon":[],"narrator":[],"starring":["Mathias Uchiyama (interviewee)"],"music":["Chris Zabriskie"],"cinematography":[],"editing":[],"studio":[],"distributor":[],"runtime":["10 minutes"],"country":[],"language":[],"budget":[],"gross":[],"imdblink":[],"trailerlink":[]}},"rg_title":["Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story"],"rg_pov":["Told from perspective of Nisei looking back at his boyhood"],"rg_freewebversion":["Yes"],"rg_geography":["eastern Oregon"],"rg_chronology":["1940s"],"rg_hasteachingaids":["No"],"body":"
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\n RGMediaType:films;\nTitle:Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story;\nCreators:;\nInterestLevel:Grades 7-8; Grades 9-12; Adult;\nReadingLevel:;\nGuidedReadingLevel:;\nLexile:;\nTheme:Power of the past; Working class struggles; Displacement;\nGenre:Documentary;\nPoV:Told from perspective of Nisei looking back at his boyhood;\nRelatedEvents:;\nAvailability:Widely available;\nFreeWebVersion:Yes;\nPrimarySecondary:;\nHasTeachingAids:No;\nWarnings:;\nDenshoTopic:;\nGeography:eastern Oregon;\nChronology:1940s;\nFacility:Portland [12] - Portland, Oregon;\n

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\n Title:Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story;\nDate:2015; \nGenre:;\nReleased:;\nDirector:;\nProducer:;\nWriter:;\nScreenplay:;\nStory:;\nBasedOn:;\nNarrator:;\nStarring:Mathias Uchiyama (interviewee);\nMusic:Chris Zabriskie;\nCinematography:;\nEditing:;\nStudio:;\nDistributor:;\nRuntime:10 minutes;\nCountry:;\nLanguage:;\nBudget:;\nGross:;\nIMDBLink:;\nTrailerLink:;\n

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\n Short documentary film about a Japanese American family that left the\n \n Portland Assembly Center\n \n to engage in farm labor in eastern Oregon, produced to accompany the traveling exhibition\n \n \n Uprooted: Japanese American Farm Labor Camps during World War II\n \n \n .\n

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\n The ten-minute video is built around a 2014 oral history interview with Mathias Uchiyama, whose family left the Portland Assembly Center in June of 1942 to harvest sugar beets in Eastern Oregon. Housed first at the\n \n Nyssa migrant labor camp\n \n , the Uchiyamas later moved to a private farm where they lived in a cabin and worked for the white farm owners. They were ultimately allowed to stay in the area, since it was outside the\n \n exclusion zone\n \n for Japanese Americans. Ten at the time of the roundup, Uchiyama and his family were photographed during their farm labor period by Farm Security Administration photographer\n \n Russell Lee\n \n in a series of fifteen images. In the film, he talks about Lee and the photographs and recounts his memories of that time.\n

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\n The film consists entirely of Uchiyama's recollections and Lee's photographs. No director or producer is credited.\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 One-Two-One-Seven\n \n \n (2016);\n \n \n Starting Over: Japanese Americans After the War\n \n \n (1996);\n \n \n Resettlement to Redress: Rebirth of the Japanese-American Community\n \n \n (2005)\n

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\n \n Through the Lens of Russell Lee: Mathias Uchiyama's Story\n \n on the\n \n Uprooted\n \n website:\n \n http://www.uprootedexhibit.com/their-stories/videos-transcripts/\n \n .\n

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\n Mori, Darryl. \"\n \n Q&A with Morgen Young, Curator of Uprooted Exhibition on WWII Nikkei Farm Laborers.\n \n \"\n \n Discover Nikkei\n \n , Sept. 9, 2016.\n

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