Asia Society Screening of The Cats of Mirikitani

"Make art not war" is Jimmy Mirikitani's motto. This 85-year-old Japanese-American artist was born in Sacramento, imprisoned in the Tule Lake internment camp, and raised in Hiroshima, but by 2001 he was living on the streets of New York with the twin towers of the World Trade Center still ominously framing the horizon behind him. What begins as a simple verité portrait of one homeless man becomes a rare chronicle of daily life in New York in the months leading up to and following 9/11.

An intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing powers of friendship and art, The Cats of Mirikitani won the Audience Award at its premiere in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.

A discussion with the filmmaker Linda Hattendorf moderated by Chi-hui Yang will follow.

Linda Hattendorf has worked in the New York documentary community for more than a decade. Her editing work has aired on PBS, A&E, and The Sundance Channel as well as in theatrical venues and many festivals. Among many other films, she edited Josh Pais' award-winning documentary 7th Street; Julia Pimsleur's Brother Born Again; Christina Lundberg's On the Road Home: A Spiritual Journey Guided by Remarkable Women, Nancy Recant's Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Danny Schechter's In Debt We Trust.

Chi-hui Yang is the director and programmer of the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival (SFIAAFF), a presentation of the Center for Asian American Media.

Co-sponsored by the Center for Asian American Media, Japan Society of Northern California, Kearny Street Workshop, American Friends Service Committee and the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California

Thursday, October 18, 2007
5:30 pm Registration
6:00 pm Program
7:30 pm Sushi/Wine Reception

$5 Members/Students,
$10 Non-Members
500 Washington St., 5th Floor
San Francisco