Heart and Soul

The video on the family rice pot was shown this past weekend at the Aratani theater in Little Tokyo.  It is a little strange viewing it in a large theater and listening to the reaction of the audience to various portions of the video.  On mine, it was laughter at various points that I didn’t anticipate.  The reaction would sometimes masked the ongoing dialog.

Of course there is always sacrifice in what you present.  Time is a factor, pacing, matching dialog to pictures, etc.  Ken Burns I am not.  But I guess everyone has a point of view.  I just got to see mine on the big screen. 

The end result?  I guess in some ways it is a validation of what my vision is.  Being able to nudge me as motivation to proceed.  I still want to document pastor’s stories looking back from their “retirement”.  I want to also document Asian basketball stories.  Both are integral to the JA community.

The Digital Histories program is in limbo.  They are seeking sponsorship to continue the program.  This showing was the most viewed and hopefully has influenced sponsors to continue the program.  VC has been phenomenal in their sponsorship and support of the program.  They treat us in the DH program like all the other professional film makers struggling to create their visions.  But I now understand how they keep telling up that our perspective is different and valuable as “seniors”.  What I produced would have been completely different if the younger generation produced it.

Which brings me to the heart of the program.  I am one of the younger ‘seniors” in the program.  It is the older participants that are the heart and soul of Digital Histories.  They are the ones seeking the stories that are vanishing, they are the ones with their iphones, not afraid to create their film to tell their stories.  Those of us more technically adept can be produce slick, polished projects, but it is the raw stories and videos that hit the heart the most.  Without them, the program is hollow and empty in emotional content.

Hey Wada! Productions was named due to the unique Wada experience.  As stated in a previous post, we are somehow called by our last name.  And to get our attention, it is often “Hey Wada!”    Go figure.