Description

A very long excel spreadsheet resides on an old computer near the window of an upstairs bedroom in suburban Minneapolis. The spreadsheet is a list, a registry of names of thousands of World War II veterans that served in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service, the M.I.S. Seiki Oshiro is the keeper of the registry. He also served in the M.I.S. Most of the veterans of World War II have passed on. Many have told their stories, recorded for history. But for those in the M.I.S., made up of Japanese-Americans who fought in the Pacific against the Japanese enemy, many of those stories have been lost, as the unit was sworn to secrecy for decades after the war. Add to that, there was no complete record made by the U.S. Army about who actually served in the unit. The Registry profiles a few of those who served in the M.I.S.A very long excel spreadsheet resides on an old computer near the window of an upstairs bedroom in suburban Minneapolis. The spreadsheet is a list, a registry of names of thousands of World War II veterans that served in the U.S. Military Intelligence Service, the M.I.S. Seiki Oshiro, a retired computer programmer, is the keeper of the registry. He also served in the M.I.S. “Who will remember us after we’re all gone?” he wonders. Will his children, or grandchildren know what they did during the war? Maybe the registry will help. Most of the veterans of World War II have passed on. Many have told their stories, recorded for history. But for those in the M.I.S., made up of Japanese-Americans who fought in the Pacific against the Japanese enemy, so many of those stories have been lost, as the unit was sworn to secrecy for decades after the war. Add to that, there was no complete record made by the U.S. Army about who actually served in the unit. The Registry profiles a few of those who served in the M.I.S. who reveal stories to their sons and daughters they’ve never shared until now, as they’re well into their 90s. The film looks at decisions made in a time of war regarding loyalty to a country while facing racism and the mass internment in the U.S. of people of Japanese descent.

Filmmakers Bill Kubota and Steve Ozone are scheduled to attend. 

GI Film Festival San Diego Nomination

Best Documentary Short

Director's Bio

Bill Kubota is a partner of KDN Films/KDN Videoworks. He’s also a senior producer with Detroit Public Television, directing local and national projects like “The Ethanol Effect,” which premiered on PBS in 2016. Bill directed “Most Honorable Son,” which made its national prime time PBS premiere in 2007 and co-produced and served as director of photography of the DuPont-Columbia award-winning documentary series, “Beyond the Light Switch” in 2011. Bill is currently working on short films looking at issues of immigration and mass incarceration in the city of Detroit.

Steve Ozone is an award-winning photographer based in Minneapolis. After collaborating with Bill Kubota documenting histories of local Japanese-Americans, he discovered the untold story about the MIS, which was headquartered at nearby Fort Snelling. Steve, whose father is Japanese-American and mother is Chinese-American, is working on a photographic project about ‘paper sons,’ undocumented Chinese who entered the U.S. long ago, risking deportation. Steve’s grandfather was one of those ‘paper sons’ during the time of the Chinese Exclusion Act.

Plays in

1. 

   Opening Night Featuring Nisei Stories

   Nisei Experience, WWII

   Opening night features two films on the Japanese American soldiers during World War II.

   In This Program: American, The Registry

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Preceded By

1. Watch Trailer Watch Trailer

   American

   Richie Adams / Nisei Experience, WWII / USA / 2018 / narrative / 18 mins

   A 94-year-old veteran who works as a volunteer at the Japanese American National Museum encounters a mother and her daughter, triggering events that happened in his past, including his time as a young man in a Japanese American Internment Camp and later serving with the 442 in WWII. Stars George Takei, Leonardo Nam, Rachel Michiko Whitney, Keong Sim, and Ivan Shaw.

   Precedes: The Registry

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