Journalism professor’s film wins Best Documentary Award

“What We Could Carry,”a documentary film produced and directed by Professor Daniel Miller from the UO School of Journalism and Communication has been awarded the 2011 Best Documentary Award in short form faculty documentaries in the 2011 Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Festival of Media Arts.

The film is the story of Japanese American students expelled from the University of Oregon and other West Coast universities in 1942. The film details the choices to leave the U.S. or enter internment camps, and the UO’s efforts to redress the wrongs and award the students diplomas in recognition of their achievements.

The film focuses on the stories of six of the 20 Japanese Americans who were forced to leave the UO and were awarded honorary diplomas by the university in 2008. 

The effort,  led by David Hubin, senior assistant to the President, former President Dave Frohnmayer and members of the Oregon Japanese American community, led to the awarding of diplomas to 20 Japanese American students (some posthumously) and a reunion of many of the students and their families at the university. 

Awardees include Sam Naito, Homer Yasui, Robert Yasui, Alice Kawasaki and Midori Funatake.  Their interviews in the film are accompanied by rare archival footage, original sound and music, and direct contemporary cinema footage.

“This film tells an important national story of courage, intellect, spirit, family, community and achievement,” said Miller.

Miller produced the film over two years.  UO alums and filmmakers Emese Foss and Sam Allen co-produced, and Catalina Vasquez, Allison O’Brian, Braden Wolf, Keiichi Hasimoto, Stacy Fong, Max Walker and Benjamin Brayfield contributed to the film.