|
California
Civil Liberties Public Education Project (CCLPEP)
sponsors film festival
The
California
Civil Liberties Public Education Program (CCLPEP),
a grant program within the California State
Library, offered its first film festival this summer.
Held
in historic Room 500 in the Stanley Mosk Library
and Courts Building in Sacramento, the
festival’s films were, like all CCLPEP grant
projects, about the Japanese American internment
of World War II or related civil liberties issues.
Festival-goers included elected officials,
California State Library staff, and the local
public.
Valentino’s
Ghost
The
CCLPEP festival’s first film, still a “work in
progress” when it premiered August 16, was Valentino’s
Ghost, a documentary overview of how Arab and
Muslim people have been portrayed in American
cultural forms from 1896 to the present day.
Valentino’s Ghost explores the
ways Arab and Muslim caricatures reflect popular
sentiment toward Americans of Middle Eastern
descent and toward U.S. foreign policy in the
Middle East from decade to decade.
Michael
Singh, the writer and producer of Valentino’s
Ghost, introduced his film and held a
discussion after the show.
Singh was extremely pleased for the
feedback from his first “real audience” after
the festival showing.
He then submitted the film to the Sundance
Film Festival in September.
Old
Man River
The
festival’s second film, Old Man River,
shown on September 6, was a 1999 CCLPEP project
that received awards from American
Cinema Editors for Best Edited Documentary
Feature 1999 and from Cinequest
San Jose Film Festival for Best Documentary
1999.
Old
Man River is a multi media one-woman stage
performance written and preformed by Cindy
Fujikawa, the daughter of Hollywood character
actor Jerry Fujikawa (“Chinatown,”
“M*A*S*H,” “Taxi”). When Fujukawa stumbles
upon a mysterious secret her father has taken to
his grave, she embarks on a journey that brings
her face-to-face with American racism,
specifically the internment of Japanese Americans
during World War II.
Old Man River brings to life an
astoundingly tragic and complex American family
history, while connecting this personal story to
larger political and social issues.
The
California Civil Liberties Public Education
Program was created in 1999 as the result of the
passage of the California Civil Liberties Public
Education Act (AB1914 pdf,
html
and AB1915 pdf,
html)
sponsored by Assemblymember Mike Honda. CCLPEP
provides competitive grants for public educational
activities and educational materials to ensure
that people remember the Japanese Internment of
WWII and understand the causes and circumstances
of this and similar civil liberties infractions.
For
copies of these CCLPEP films, and for more
information about CCLPEP, please contact Amy
Sullivan at (916) 653-8722 or email cclpep@library.ca.gov.
|
