We are extremely pleased to announce with our partner North Shore Productions the upcoming community screenings and May release of our full length 60 minute documentary, Betrayed: Surviving An American Concentration Camp. Virtual screening THIS Saturday, Feb. 26 at 2 pm PT with Nichi Bei's Annual Films of Remembrance. Cost $15. Register HERE.

Betrayed tells the story of a group of American citizens and their mass incarceration by the U.S. government, purely on the basis of race. In the compelling voices of survivors of Minidoka, a concentration camp in the Idaho desert, the film explores the unconstitutional suspension of the civil rights of these Japanese Americans during WWII and the long-lasting impact of the incarceration on their community. Betrayed examines the incarceration of Japanese Americans in the Pacific Northwest in order to tell a universal story about unjust imprisonment and the loss of civil rights.

The film also explores the long-term effects of the incarceration over decades, and the phenomenon of intergenerational trauma as it affects this community. Over 40 camp survivors and descendants bring an unparalleled immediacy and urgency to the story. Our interviewees include the late Kay Sakai Nakao, one of the first Japanese Americans to be taken, the poet Larry Matsuda, Paul Tomita, whose father went directly from camp to join the OSS, Satsuki Ina, a trauma therapist who was herself born in a concentration camp, and many others.

Lastly, Betrayed looks at the rise of Japanese American activism in defense of the rights of others, and the relevance of this story today, both in the targeting of groups based on their religion or ethnicity and the actions of the U.S. government at our southern border.

Directed by Rory Banyard and narrated by Tamlyn Tomita.