The Cats of Mirikitani
credits:
Director: Linda HattendorfProducers: Linda Httendorf, Masa Yoshikawa
USA 2006 | 74 mins | DigiBeta | English, Japanese w/E.S.
IN PERSON (at select screenings): Linda Hattendorf, Jimmy Mirikitani, Mas Yoshikawa
Winner of the 2006 Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, this moving documentary uncovers the remarkable life of artist Jimmy Mirikitani. When filmmaker Linda Hattendorf began documenting his artwork in 2001, Jimmy was 80 years old and living on the streets of Manhattan. To survive, he sold his vibrant paintings—images of mischievous cats and ripe persimmons as well as searing renditions of desert internment camps and fiery atomic blasts. When 9/11 shrouds downtown in its own toxic cloud, Linda invites Jimmy into her home, beginning an unusual friendship and a journey into his troubled past. Helping him navigate the maze of social services, Linda discovers that Jimmy is related to San Francisco Poet Laureate Janice Mirikitani. She learns that he was imprisoned in the Tule Lake internment camp during WWII and separated from his sister (whom he hadn’t seen since), and that the rest of his family perished in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Although these memories are painful, Jimmy eventually confronts the traumas of his past and makes steps toward a new life. Skillfully balancing past tragedies with present-day hopes, THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI is a sensitive, insightful treatise on the healing power of art and friendship.
—Sharon Mizota
Cat of Mirikitani was funded by CAAM.
This film is preceeded by the following short:
Pilgrimage
USA | 2006 | 22 minsDirector: Tad Nakamura
This innovatively edited documentary tells the story of the Japanese Americans who created the Manzanar Pilgrimage, which transformed the abandoned camp into a symbol of retrospection and solidarity.
