Visible Target (film)

Documentary film on the forced removal of Japanese Americans from Bainbridge Island , Washington. Cris Anderson and John de Graaf produced Visible Target in 1984 for Seattle public television station KCTS, making it one of the earliest documentaries to tackle the exclusion and incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Beginning and ending with a current day picnic, the documentary covers the prewar history of Bainbridge Island, the forced removal and incarceration of its Japanese American residents to Manzanar and Minidoka , and the community's return after the closing of the camps. Though the documentary highlights the supportive role played by local newspaper editors Walt and Milly Woodward —who are featured in it—it also notes the mixed reception of the local white community, even to the present. The film includes many interviews with both Japanese American and white residents of Bainbridge.

In addition to receiving grants from The Japan Foundation ($3,000) and the Washington Commission for the Humanities ($2,500), Bainbridge Island community members contributed $16,000 of the total $50,000 budget. Visible Target" aired nationally on PBS on June 15, 1986. ^[1]

Might also like After Silence: Civil Rights and the Japanese American Experience (2003); The Red Pines: Japanese-Americans on Bainbridge Island (2006); Island Roots ' (2007)