Only The Brave DVD Release Screening

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Kaimuki, Hawaii
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Only The Brave DVD Release Screening
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Type: Special Event
Date: Tuesday - 3/18/2008
Time: 7pm
Location:
Hawaii Theatre Center
1130 Bethel Street
Honolulu, HI 96813
Cost:

Event Name: Only The Brave DVD Release Screening

Location of the event: Hawaii Theatre Center, 1130 Bethel Street, Honolulu, HI 96813

Date and Time: Tuesday, March 18, 2008, show time at 7 p.m.

Description of event:Proceeds from this film screening will benefit the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i. The film is also being released on DVD and will be available for purchase as the event. The DVD sales benefit the Honolulu chapters of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Debuted in 2006 and directed by Hawai‘i-born playwright and actor Lane Nishikawa—the film stars Jason Scott Lee, Mark Dacascos, Tamlyn Tomita, Yuji Okumoto, Jeff Fahey, Guy Ecker and the late Pat Noriyuki Morita—in a searing portrait of war and prejudice that was the official selection at 17 U.S. film festivals and the recipient of the prized Audience Award at the Starz Denver International Film Festival. Event attendees can also meet some of the film’s director and stars. Based on actual events, Only The Brave chronicles one of the most important, yet little known chapters of 20th century history.

In 1941, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, there were 5,000 Japanese Americans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. These second-generation citizens were stripped of their official duties—simply because they looked like the enemy. On the continental U.S., 120,000 innocent men, women and children were rounded up and swept into remote internment camps, where they would remain behind barbed wire for the duration of the war.

Determined to prove their loyalty, the discharged Hawaiian Territorial Guardsmen of Japanese descent successfully petitioned the U.S. government to allow them to serve. These 1,400 Hawai‘i Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) became the 100th Infantry Battalion. In July 1943, after rigorous training, they were sent to North Africa, then Italy. Fiercely courageous, they suffered so many casualties the 100th was soon dubbed the “Purple Heart Battalion.”

In June 1944, they were joined by the 442nd—comprised of Nisei volunteers from the internment camps and Hawai‘i—and proceeded to liberate five towns in Northern Italy. That September, they were shipped to Southern France and freed three more towns, before being recruited for what would become one of the top ten most important battles of World War II—the impossibly dangerous rescue of the Texas “Lost Battalion.”

The Texas 36th Division, consisting of 275 men, had been trapped for more than a week on a high plateau in France’s Vosges Mountains, surrounded by thousands of Nazis. When attempts by much larger regular-Army units failed to break through and were pulled back, the 100th/442nd was ordered to finish the job. Though their ranks were already decimated and the Nisei were unimaginably exhausted, they spent four days and nights in brutal uphill hand-to-hand combat—while suffering frostbite and trench foot so severe they could hardly walk.

The Nisei saved 211 out of the 275 Texans, but suffered more than 800 casualties of their own. During two years of combat, their extraordinary valor resulted in an unparalleled 21 Medals of Honor, 9486 Purple Hearts, eight Presidential Citations, 53 Distinguished Service Crosses, 588 Silver Stars and 5,200 Bronze Star Medals—making them the most decorated unit in American military history.

Only The Brave marks the feature film directorial debut of Nishikawa, who now resides in San Diego. Nishikawa also appears in a starring role and has been called “one of Asian America’s most compelling voices” by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki.

A Mission From Buddha Production, the film was produced by Karen Criswell, Eric Hayashi, and Jay Koiwai and funded in part by grants from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program and donations from families of veterans who served in the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team and the Military Intelligence Service—spearheaded by the National Japanese American Historical Society of San Francisco.

Cost/Entry Fee: $8 JCCH members & veterans; $10 for non-members ($3 theatre restoration fee included). Admission proceeds to benefit the JCCH. DVD sales to benefit Hawai‘i chapters of the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team.

To purchase tickets, call the Hawaii Theatre box office at (808) 528-0506 or go to www.hawaiitheatre.com. For more information on the film, call the JCCH at (808) 945-7633, email: info@jcch.com, fax: (808) 944-1123. Web address: www.jcch.com.

Sponsoring organization: The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i. The JCCH features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts d�j�, Seik�an Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop.

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Kaimuki, Hawaii Event Calendar Item

Kaimuki, Hawaii
Event Calendar Item